Scrapping speed cameras 'will put lives at risk'

A recent camera switch-off in the Thames Valley area has alarmed residents and there now appears to be a “road safety policy void”, the AA added.

The AA has written to Transport Secretary Philip Hammond about the matter and is due to meet Ministers.

The organisation said: “The AA is concerned that the views of motorists are not being reflected accurately in this debate and that ultimately lives are at risk.”

Oxfordshire County Council has reduced the funding provided to the Thames Valley safer roads partnership and this has resulted in the partnership announcing that camera operations will cease.

The AA said the effects of the switch-off in Oxfordshire are already being experienced by residents. On the A44 Woodstock Road, which runs into Oxford centre, Carla Bramble, a 45-year-old housewife who has lived there all her life, said: “Cars used to slow down when they saw the camera and, because there is another one along the road, they would maintain that speed.

“But now they belt along the road as fast as they like. People have read the papers and they know that all the cameras are off. They know they can go as fast as they want on this road now.”

Latest figures show 3.2m was collected in speeding fines from drivers in West Yorkshire, the Humber and South Yorkshire, but that was down from 5.2m in the previous 12 months.

AA/Populus polls have consistently shown that about 70 per cent of AA members accept the use of cameras. President Edmund King said: “Local people are more concerned about the battle to save lives on local roads that could become race tracks rather than any ‘war on the motorist’.

“Cameras will never be loved but their use is accepted by the majority of motorists. If cameras are situated in the right place, on the right roads with the right speed limit, they can be effective and will be accepted by the public.”