Road safety watchdog to turn off speed cameras as budget is cut

A ROAD safety watchdog is to become the first in Yorkshire to turn off some of its speed cameras following Government spending cuts despite criticism yesterday from campaigners and the failure of a similar experiment in Oxfordshire.

As reported by the Yorkshire Post, The South Yorkshire Safer Roads Partnership, which has achieved a 16 per cent fall so far this year in the number of casualties on the county's roads, is facing a 30 per cent cut in its budget.

Not only has it has had to scrap plans to upgrade ageing speed cameras with new digital technology, but it has now confirmed the organisation, which includes local authorities and police, is a trialling a scheme which could result in some speed cameras being turned off.

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Following an 18-month review the partnership will turn off four cameras in the Rotherham area from November 29.

The equipment will be covered in bags and speed survey gear installed to see how drivers behave. If they continue to observe the limit the cameras may then be removed.

The head of roads policing for South Yorkshire Police, Chief Insp Stuart Walne, said: "Speed cameras are in important asset in helping to reduce the number of people killed and injured on South Yorkshire's roads.

"As a result of the cameras and other road safety initiatives, we have seen the numbers of people killed and seriously injured on the county's roads drop to their lowest levels since records began in 1979.

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"The cameras are funded by the taxpayer and it is therefore important that they are strategically placed in the areas where they are needed most."

The review had identified sites that no longer meet the requirement criteria, which could be policed by hand-held speed guns, flashing signs, or other traffic calming measures.

The partnership manager for the South Yorkshire Safety Camera Partnership, Barry Smith, said: "If drivers speeds increase once the trial has started then the cameras will not be removed."

Some of the equipment was in place before the safety camera partnership existed and it was important the network targeted accident blackspots, he added.

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More cameras could be turned off over the coming months, officials say.

Road safety campaign group Brake has, however, questioned the review, pointing to the results of a similar scheme by Thames Valley Police whereby cameras were turned off on two roads in Oxfordshire at the end of July in response to 600,000 cuts.

Thames Valley's Safer Road Partnership then found speeding had gone up by up to 88 per cent.

In Cowley, 62 people were caught speeding – an increase of 88 per cent. In Woodstock, there was an 18 per cent rise involving 110 speeding motorists.

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The campaigns officer for Brake, Ellen Booth, said: "From our point of view speed cameras have proven time and time again to be incredibly effective in reducing speed and casualties.

"By all means, have a trial but we are confident the results will be in line with the results nationally.

"Speed cameras are very cost effective and in the current economic climate a measure that saves lives and pays for itself is not something we should be switching off."

A West Yorkshire Police spokesman said they had no plans for a similar experiment, but would watch the trial with interest. North Yorkshire does not use fixed-point speed cameras. No one from Humberside Police was available for comment.