Speed camera fines have increased seven-fold in the West Midlands over the past 10 years, figures revealed today – as one highways boss said he wants them removed from the region’s roads.
More than £2.6million was collected in a single year in the region from speeding fines – up from £375,000 in 1997.
In Staffordshire, the figure has risen almost 240 per cent to more than £3million, and £2.7million was raised in the West Mercia region.
The revelation comes as Walsall’s cabinet member for highways Councillor Anthony Harris demanded a review of all speed cameras in his borough that could see some of them taken down.
He branded them money-making traps that have little to do with road safety.
His comments follow those of council chiefs in Swindon, Wiltshire, who have demanded cameras be axed.
Coun Harris said: “Many cameras are blatantly just there to raise money and have got nothing at all to do with safety.
“I am very suspicious about the architecture of where some of these cameras are placed. Some in the hotspots will obviously be appropriate, but I will be asking for those that aren’t appropriate to be removed.”
Councillor Harris said council officers will begin the review of cameras when they return from holidays later in the summer.
He said: “At the moment, drivers get to know where the cameras are, and they simply speed up and slow down between them, which is not good for safety or emissions.”
A spokesman for the Department for Transport said the Government was committed to speed cameras, adding: “Cameras are there to save lives, not make money.
“Independent research has shown there are 1,745 fewer deaths and serious injuries at camera sites each year.”
27 Comments
With the number of cameras on the roads it should be virtually impossible to have an accident on our roads.
The biggest cause of accidents are because of the stupidity of councils, they are constantly putting obstructions in the road that motorist have to drive round or have to negotiate, and all the time they are concentrating on avoiding speed bumps , road narrowing etc , their mind is not on the other road users.
Jim of Bearwood
just a tax grab…..
the independent research has shown i,745 less deaths and serious injuries at these sights because of cameras have they got a crystal ball or something how can they say that if the camera wasnt there how do they know there would have been an accident
They are cash-cows, plain and simple. Especially when you see where some are located.
The rules have recently changed; the income raised from speed enforcement cameras no longer goes to the local authority or the local constabulary; it goes direct to Central Government. Yet the local authorities are expected to maintain the cameras so lo and behold they no longer want them!
Antony j,
They’re not a tax grab, if you didn’t speed, then the likelihood of getting caught is virtually nil, hence you don’t pay any fines. If you must consider it a tax, look at it as a tax on the stupid.
It’s a basic skill of driving to be able to hold a speed, occasionally glance at your speedometer, and ensure that you are doing the correct speed limit.
In my experience, motorists are blatant in their excessive speed; so it’s hardly surprising that so much money is made from them through speed cameras. The choice lies with the motorist not to speed, so you won’t get my sympathy when you get caught.
I’m sorry I can’t get angry about this.
There’s a simple solution- don’t speed and you won’t get caught.
There are far too many speed cameras on our roads and it is crystal clear that the British motorist is being persecuted by the government.
If the government are so concerned with road deaths/accidents/bad driving, why don’t they use the billions of pounds generated from vehicle tax and fuel duty to make changes to road layouts and install road humps and chicanes etc instead of cameras???
It’s no surprise that since New Labour came to power, fines have dramatically increased. Cameras are no more than piggy banks for the Treasury. With the government mismanaging the economy and the tax payer having to bail out Northern Rock, expect the fines to keep increasing. Then wait for the motorist to be hit by “green taxes”.
If you are a council tax payer, you pay for their installation, you pay for those Camera Safety Partnership vehicles that illeagally park or you pay for the new laybys for them to park in and then if you are caught your money goes towards anything the Treasury wants.
If its not back into the roads then it’s likely to be used towards the funding of Quango which is set up to keep Jo-Public at arms length from the real decision makers.
Very few people set out to speed but a lot more are caught through a moment’s distraction
Yes, they are a cash cow. But if you don’t speed you never pay a penny.
So only those breaking the law pay - rather like any other law really.
Yet do we see people complaining about people being fined for other things by the courts? No.
So don’t speed and don’t pay. Or speed knowing you are likely to have to pay sometime.
ITS THE GAMBLE OF CAR DRIVING NOWADAYS. I DONT KNOW A CAR DRIVER THAT HASNT BROKEN THE SPEED LIMIT. DO YOU?
There should be far more speed cameras everywhere and speeding fines should be tripled as safety is always more important than ignorant car drivers, its far worse in the midlands than down south, people drive like maniacs-( most probably havent even passed their test) so some kind of regional fining system would be fair
Of course its a tax but it’s a tax on the honest. How many of the cars that get “flashed” are not registered at the DVLC so are untraceable? How many are using stolen number plates as highlighted recently in the press? Its just another way of hitting the already over taxed motorist but as usual the dishonest get off scot free.
This just proves that speed cameras have absolutely no effect in reducing speed. If the number of offences has actually increased over the last 10, I would seriously question their existence.
break the law pay the price. whats difficult to understand about that ?
1,745 fewer deaths at camera sites sounds good until you know the fiddle.
Prior to siting they count for 3 kilometres in ANY direction, including adjoining estates and even unconnected main roads. For instance, the cameras on the A34 in Great Wyrley also counted in long stretches of the A5, the Bridgtown multi islands, the Cannock Eastern Bypass, the A34 into Cannock and the A34 to Bloxwich. Causation doesn’t matter, all are just counted in. Yet only 5% of accidents are due to excess speed, as proven in the 2001 Accident Survey.
While ‘at the camera sites’ is just that, within the marks on the road, about 100 metres of one specific stretch of road.
Good for Swindon, it’s all just a scamera after all.
I recently had an accident and I know for certain that looking at my speedometer to check my speed in a speed camera area took my attention away from the road and contributed to causing the accident - before speed cameras I would have been travelling somewhere around the limit by listening to the engine note.
And, with regard to ridiculous added coucil-made hazards, a couple of years ago I went around a bend in an area unknown to me and turned into full sun, I just barely made out the shadow of added bollards and avoided them. It will only take a winter when we get sufficient black ice or snow to have everyone skidding into added hazards and bollards.
I am all for speed cameras if the speed limits were realistic. The majority of speed limits are 5 to 10 mph too slow.
Nothing forcing people to speed. Not as if speedos were that inaccurate.
Speed, you pay the price. Dont speed, you never pay.
Whats so hard to understand about that?
So people speed, get caught, then scream about the cameras, about the cash cow, about the unfairness of it all.
Yet they don’t have to pay if they simply stick to the speed limit.
I can’t believe the smug postings from some of the people on here, including that from “Booster” – it shows how one letter can make all the difference, doesn’t it?
Have none of these people ever done 31mph in a 30mph? I would bet the farm every single one of them has. I have no time for people who flagrantly break the speed limits, usually cocky salesmen and blinged up chavs in scummy old Vauxhall Novas with nasty body kits, but that is wher e the police are supposed to come in – to use their discretion to diffrentiate between the momentarily careless and the wilfully reckless.
The thing about speed cameras is they have made speeding respectable. A few years ago a speeding conviction was something to be ashamed of, now almost everybody seems to have points on their licence. The stigma has gone.
As it happens, I do have a clean driving licence, but instead of sneering at everybody who has been caught I accept I have been fortunate – like everybody I sometimes make mistakes.
And if speed cameras are all about preventing speeding, why don’t they all carry a sign warning motorists what the speed limit is? A few more speed limit signs would be a far more constructive way of tackling road safety than these cameras.
As for all you lot patronisingly saying “If you don’t speed, you never pay,” I hope you all get caught. Every single one of you.
So you are suggesting that people cannot accurately read their own speedo?
Whats the cure then? Glasses for everyone?
Well said Boster.
Aggressive driving is more dangerous such as the flash salesman or the boy racer driving too close to the vehicle in front. I too have a clean licence (at the moment) but it seems unfair to be caught doing no more than 35mph in a 30mph zone late at night.
I can only conclude that the comments which say “don’t speed and you won’t get fined” are from people who don’t drive or haven’t driven since 1997. It seems some people are bereft of all logical thinking.
P, so is 35mph in a 30 zone acceptable? Then get the speed limit changed. I’ve driven hundreds of thousands of miles, many of the speeders haven’t looked like boy racers and pretty sure there aren’t that many flash salemen. Just ordinary men and women wanting to knock a minute or two off their journey.
Martin, if these speedsters you refer to drive so fast, how come you can see what they look like?
From my experience, aggressive driving is worse i.e, people driving too close to each other. Most speed cameras just generate revenue for the Treasury. Speed humps and changing road layouts are better for road safety.
What is wrong by increasing the speed limit at night on some roads and motorways where there is less traffic?
P - ever heard of relative speed? Travelling in the same direction, don’t say you cannot see who passes you? Unless they shoot past you far faster than you are going of course.
Aggressive driving and driving too close I see as seperate things, though agressive drivers can drive too close they aren’t the only ones.
Night driving, you tend to not be able to see anything but other vehicles. Harder to see those crossing roads, obstructions, debris or those who have stopped. Light is a bit less than daytime - can you say for certain that everyone will be able to stop in time?
“Many of the speeders haven’t looked like boy racers and pretty sure there aren’t that many flash salemen. Just ordinary men and women wanting to knock a minute or two off their journey.”
Mr Davies, you have said it all. Except that with speed cameras, these ordinary people are treated exactly the same as the real idiots.
My solution, if one is really needed – I think in the scheme of things there are bigger problems in the world – is that we go back to treating bad driving the way we used to – throw the book at the hooligans; ban them, jail them if you like; and turn a blind eye to the trivial infringements. It is not the people doing 32, 33 or 34mph who are the problem. It is the idiots.
Zero tolerance is a euphemism for going after the soft targets because the yobbos are too much trouble.
Zero tolerance also removes the people who creep up from 32,33 or 34mph.
Funny how many other laws don’t allow for turning a blind eye, yet speeding people feel should.
Go figure.