More than half of fixed speed cameras in England and Wales do not work at any one time, a consumer watchdog has found. A study by Which? found that less than 47% of all fixed cameras in England and Wales tend to be operational. It asked all 43 police authorities in England and Wales how many fixed speed camera housings they had and how many were working under the Freedom of Information Act.
The Which? report, titled ‘The Truth About Speed Cameras’, revealed Lancashire as worst with only 10% of its 287 camera sites ready to snap motorists. Staffordshire was little better with just 11% of its 263 camera housings ready for action, while just 12% of Derbyshire’s 117 cameras were found to be working. By contrast, all 60 cameras in Sussex were in operation.
It also emerged there were no fixed speed cameras in Cleveland, North Yorkshire, Wiltshire and Durham, although the latter does operate a single mobile camera. “Speed cameras in some areas are always operational, whereas in others there could be a one in 10 chance the camera you’ve passed isn’t working. It really is a tale of two counties,” said Which? editor Martyn Hocking. The report found that counties generally have more yellow boxes than actual cameras, and move the devices around depending on speed and accident statistics. Fines from speeding are transfered via the Treasury to local councils as grants for local road safety initiatves. But these grants are no longer ring fenced due to government cuts, forcing councils to save cash by removing speed cameras, the report found.
Last year Oxfordshire County Council deactivated 72 fixed cameras and 89 mobile units. A Which? survey of 1,920 members found 47% of people thought speed cameras made the roads safer and 45% did not. Katie Shephard, acting general manager of road safety charity Brake, said speed cameras “help to stem the huge cost to the economy of road deathand injury.” Figures from the Department for Transport released last June showed on average nine people are killed and 85 injured each day on Britain’s roads.