Half of speed camera sites 'not working'

More than half of fixed speed cameras in England and Wales do not work at any one time, according to a consumer watchdog.

A study by Which? also found that the chances of getting caught speeding vary dramatically from county to county, all 60 Sussex cameras in operation but just 10 per cent of Lancashire's 287 sites.

Less than 47 per cent of all fixed cameras are operational at any one time, Which? said, most areas having more yellow boxes than actual cameras and rotating the working part at random or in response to speed and accident statistics.

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The watchdog asked all 43 police authorities in England and Wales how many fixed speed camera housings they had and how many were in operation under the Freedom of Information Act.

Dorset, Hertfordshire, Merseyside, Norfolk and Suffolk refused to answer, but the available results showed counties had between 10 per cent and 100 per cent of their cameras in operation.

Durham said it used a single mobile camera because there was no need for fixed cameras anywhere in the county, while Cleveland, North Yorkshire and Wiltshire also did not operate any fixed sites.

Elsewhere, Cumbria Police had just 12 fixed cameras – one of the lowest totals in the investigation – but all were operational.

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Staffordshire Police had 263 speed camera housings but just 11 per cent were in operation, while Avon and Somerset had 54 sites of which 94 per cent were operational.

A Which? survey of 1,920 members found 47 per cent of people thought speed cameras made the roads safer and 45 per cent did not, while 83 per cent believed they slowed drivers down only at specific locations.