Speed cameras in the firing line
Monday 26th July 2010, 5:00PM BST.
Speed cameras in the West Midlands could be switched off following massive cuts in government funding.
Councillors on the West Midlands Road Safety Partnership Board, which oversees the 300 fixed, red light and mobile cameras, are considering the move after a cut of £38 million in the £95m-a-year national budget.
Speed cameras in the region cost taxpayers £2.1m last year and West Midlands Police ran £74,700 over budget.
The cost of obsolete technology, such as wet film processing, was blamed for the overspend. Today councillors said they were considering switching them off.
Councillor Ian Jones, Labour-led Sandwell’s transport chief, said: “We have 25 stationary speed cameras in the borough. We’re having to look at the cameras because of the knock-on effects of the budget cuts.”
Councillor Tom Ansell, transport chief at Tory controlled Walsall Council said: “I don’t think they do a good job. They don’t catch drink drivers and they provide an excuse for the police not to be out doing the job.
“We’re looking at this closely and will consider switching them off. However, it costs £5,000 to remove a speed camera and we would not get any extra funding to do that.”
Wolverhampton’s transport boss Councillor Paddy Bradley said: “We haven’t decided yet but there definitely won’t be any more.”
But Councillor David Sparks, opposition Labour party leader for Dudley said he had “no reason to believe” that Dudley Council would scrap speed cameras in the area.
Mr Sparks added: “It would be a massive mistake if any council got rid of cameras. There are more people wanting speed cameras here than there are actual cameras.”
Oxfordshire County Council was today voting to switch off its 72 cameras.
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Tom ansell said it would cost £5000 to remove them, what a joke, The price of scrap steel would make it viable for any scrapman to take them out let alone the tatters who would be only too pleased to weigh them in.
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Why not just turn them off, leave them where they are and put a sign up – not in use. Is that too simple a solution?
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How about dismantling the “West Midlands Road Safety Partnership Board”, that too would save the taxpayers plenty of money, with less salaries, and expenses being paid to Councillors and I presume council employees who sit on this Quango!
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Absolutely!
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Spot on, Karen but you’ll get nowhere making common sense suggestions like that. Jobs for the berks, know what I mean?
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£5000 to remove them? Let the community dismantle them, I’d be first in line
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Removing the voluntary tax system? What a quaint idea.
So rather than highly visible fixed cameras asking people to pay a voluntary tax we’d have instead more police speed traps which aren’t very visible to ask people to pay a voluntary tax.
Removing the fixed cameras will make the public happy, letting the police do speed traps where they want will make the police happy, so we’ll all be happy. Even the voluntary taxation people.
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i take it the £5000 cost to remove them is to pay for all the courses one would have to take on how to remove them oops nearly forgot the health and safety involved in the removal
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goes to prove all along just money grabbing, as it looks now, no money to keep speed cameras going, and sod the accidents they could have prevented, thats of course if they ever reduced them, i for one dont think so
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If we end up with mobile police manned speed traps rather than static , easy to spot , cameras then GREAT!
I have a simple speed camera scrambler in my car, it’s called a throttle. Press it down enough not to exceed the limit and the camera doesn’t go off.
I’m sick of people whinging about getting “taxed” because they want to drive at whatever speed they want , escpecially in built up areas.
As for the old argument about them just being revenue generators, if they cost money to run they can’t be can they ?
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Here here Pete well said!
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maybe the lack of cameras will force to police to patrol more offend then they can see the speeders ,underaged drivers,boy racers
which in turn would lead to more sensible driving habits as fear of being followed by a patrol car which camera cannot do,plus side of that being police presence will deter other crimes aswell
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Pete,
So you’ve never broken a speed limit in your life, then?
I try not to break the speed limit, and I’ve never been fined, but I don’t feel the need to be so smug – we all make mistakes sometimes and it is easy to sometimes stray fractionally above the speed limit.
When speed limits were enforced by the police, there was usually a bit of common sense – ie a recognition that somebody doing a few mph over the limit is really not presenting a danger to anybody, whereas a boy racer deliberately driving to fast is a menace who deserves to have the book thrown at him.
Has it never occurred to you that the indisciminate fining of everybody who breaks a speed limit has made speeding respectable? There used to be a stigma to having points on your licence; now half the country has got them, and nobody bats an eyelid.
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