Shropshire-Guy

Cameras to catch speeders



Speed cameras could soon be mounted along south Shropshire's "killer" roads for the first time under radical new measures unveiled today to slash the number of deaths on the district's highways.

Parish councillors will also be armed with speed guns to catch motorists who speed through villages.

The new package was announced just days before four new cameras are due to be switched on in Shrewsbury and is in response to the "high" number of deaths on south Shropshire's roads.

Static cameras would be mounted along notorious accident blackspots including the A49 and The Corvedale Road, which regularly claims the lives of motorists and motorcyclists.

Under the scheme, announced by Shropshire's new police chief Guy Rutter, parish councillors will also nab drivers who speed through their village.

A warning letter would be issued to offending motorists and if repeated they risk fines and penalty points. Campaigners have welcomed both schemes.

THEN WE GET THIS FOR GODS SAKE.

Back to school for speeding drivers?


Public perception of speed cameras could be threatening support for other road safety strategies, and new ways of using the revenue from cameras - including re-education courses - should be introduced to break the link between enforcement and revenue, it is claimed.
The RAC Foundation has welcomed reports that the Government is currently examining methods of delivering re-education courses instead of penalty points to motorists caught by safety cameras across the country.

The Department of Transport is looking at ways of ensuring consistency and effectiveness in the speed awareness courses - which are financed by offenders.

Kevin Delaney, traffic and road safety manager of the RAC Foundation, said: "Speed cameras are an integral and essential part of the nation's road safety strategy but they have polarised public opinion, politicised road safety and personalised the debate as well as criminalising millions of motorists over the past four years.

"If the cameras are to fulfil their potential as the prime achievers of the Government's ambitious casualty reduction targets, it is vital that the attitude of otherwise law-abiding motorists are changed towards remote enforcement methods. In the correct locations, cameras are a real road-safety benefit. But we need to de-couple the belief that cameras are about money.

"Such change will only come about if we address those perceptions. Many drivers think that speed cameras are as, or more, concerned about raising revenue than reducing collisions and that numbers of speeding tickets are more important than dealing with very high speeds, blatant offenders and drink, drug and dangerous drivers."

The RAC Foundation has a four-point manifesto:

Break the link between enforcement and revenue. Rather than funding camera operations as a separate entity, bring them within the general road safety portfolio. Instead of returning the revenue raised for the continued operation of cameras, apply it much more widely to include road-user education within schools. Instead of paying traffic police overtime to operate speed cameras, pay them to undertake mainstream high-visibility traffic patrol duties, including dealing with the anti-social minority whose dangerous and often uninsured driving poses a greater threat.
Improve signing of speed limits to the point where every limit is signed clearly at the beginning and throughout. Ensure that a speed limit sign is always visible at a fixed or mobile speed camera site.
Increase the use of speed-related interactive signs, which either remind drivers of the limit, or display the actual speed of speeding vehicles, especially on the approach to fixed-site, or mobile speed cameras.
Tackle drivers' attitudes towards speed by increasing the provision of speed awareness courses as an alternative to automatic penalties in the case of minor infringements, or first-time offenders. A speeding ticket through the post tends to harden rather than change the recipient's attitude, whereas driver training encourages those taking part to think about their behaviour and perhaps change it.



SUCH A PITY THEY DON,T GO AND CATCH REAL CRIMINALS

SiDHEaD

I dont think i like the idea of parish councillors having speed guns. If they take a disliking to you driving thru their village (at the correct speed) because you drive a load spoliered scoob, they can make up that you were speeding. It worse than coppers using one!.

Andy

SiPie

Think yourselves lucky cos in New Zealand OAP's etc can volunteer to man speed traps and they are the ones that hold the guns