Some Quotes on Speed Cameras

magpie

Courtesy of the Association of British Drivers website: http://www.abd.org.uk/quotes.htm#cams

"Speed cameras don't reduce casualties — they are just for revenue generation."

Chief Inspector Paul Gilroy, Northumbria Police, October 2003

"We ought to be altering driver behaviour, rather than adopting a blanket speed camera approach that doesn’t effectively tackle the problem."

Paul Garvin, Chief Constable, Durham Constabulary
Sunday Times 2003-11-23

"It's absolutely ridiculous that anyone should be prosecuted for being 1mph over the limit. Apart from the possibility of inaccuracies, we believe it is dangerous. You don't want motorists driving along staring at their speedometers rather than concentrating on the road ahead."

Edmund King, RAC Foundation
Daily Mail 2004-01-31

"The pro-camera lobby, and a lot of the safety partnerships, deliberately misquote the statistics to try and mislead people to try and justify their position. I think it is disingenuous if we are really intent on reducing casualties on the road - as opposed to enforcing speed limits and dishing out lots of tickets."
"More accidents are caused by inattention, drink driving, or nowadays, more by driving under the influence of drugs. And these statistics adopted by certain forces show a woolly area regarding the proximity of speed cameras. Some statistics are taken from an area 20 metres from a camera and others from a two-kilometre radius. The speed cameras issue is not a point of principle, it is a fact that they are pointless."

Paul Garvin, Chief Constable of Durham Constabulary
The Journal, 2004-06-16

"With more than 20 years as a traffic inspector and chief inspector, I always thought that, when decisions were made to prosecute motorists, the police had to prove the offence beyond all reasonable doubt - and that they also had to use a certain amount of discretion and commonsense. Now I believe those basic principles are being ignored in pursuit of revenue."
Neil Longsden, former Chief Inspector,
Greater Manchester Police Motorway Group
Manchester Online, Oct 2004

And, yes, this is my new pet beef.

Boggle

Hey magpie - take a look at www.safespeed.org.uk - think you'll find it interesting.

One interesting point that they bring up is the effect of constantly monitoring your speed i.e. inattention to the road due to the time taken to remove your eyes from the road, focus on the speedometer and then back on the road. Think you'd be surprised how long it takes.
(Wonder how long it takes when you are trying to focus on the smaller secondary kilometer speedo!! - anyone wanna try it and report back?)