No stats to back Gatsos

Despite 13 years of speed cameras on UK roads, the Government has admitted that it still has no idea how many accidents are caused by speeding.

Anti-camera campaign group SafeSpeed petitioned the DfT under the Freedom of Information Act asking how many crashes were caused by people exceeding the limit – but they couldn’t answer because the research has never been done.

Current police accident reports do not make any distinction between excessive speed for the circumstances and breaking the speed limit, so accidents are listed as speed-related whether people were breaking the limit or not.

According to SafeSpeed, statistics from Durham, Avon and Somerset and Canada suggest that as many as 70 per cent of crashes where speed was listed as a factor, didn’t involve anyone breaking any speed limits. This means a speed camera would not have prevented the accident.

Paul Smith, founder of the Safe Speed, said: “Despite 13 years of speed cameras on British roads, the DfT can’t even give us basic supporting information. The roads aren’t getting safer, drivers are getting worse and speed cameras are far greater in distraction than in benefit.

“Our best working estimate for the proportion of crashes caused or contributed to by ‘normal responsible motorists’ driving in excess of a speed limit is under 2% of crashes. The contrasts very remarkably with official figures showing that 60% of vehicles are speeding at sample sites on most road types.”

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