Speed cameras back on after cuts

Thames Valley police say 72 fixed camera sites and 89 mobile sites switched off after spending cuts will begin operating again Speed cameras in Oxfordshire which were switched off due to spending cuts last year are being switched on again. Thames Valley police said 72 fixed camera sites and 89 mobile sites in the county would start operating from Friday. They were switched off on 1 August 2010 after Oxfordshire County council cut the authority’s road safety grant. Superintendent Rob Povey, the head of roads policing for Thames Valley police, said: “We think this is important, because we know that speed kills and speed is dangerous. “We have shown in Oxfordshire that speed has increased through monitoring limits, and we have noticed an increase in fatalities and the number of people seriously injured in 2010. We know that speed enforcement does work as a deterrent to motorists.” Data released by Thames Valley police showed that, in the six months after the cameras were switched off, 83 people were injured in 62 accidents at the sites of fixed cameras. The figure for the same period the year before – August 2009 to January 2010 – was 68 injuries in 60 accidents. Across Oxford, 18 people were killed in road traffic accidents in the period, compared with 12 people the year before. The number of people seriously injured rose by 19 to 179. Povey said the money for switching the cameras back on came from cutting back office costs and funding diverted from speed awareness courses. Professor Stephen Glaister, the director of the RAC Foundation, said speed cameras were “controversial”, but research suggested they prevent 800 fatalities and serious injuries each year. Transport guardian.co.uk

Posted by on April 1, 2011. Filed under News, Politics, World News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.