Speed cameras cause more accidents?
TheNewspaper.com reports that a study conducted by the Department for Transport, uncovered by a FOIA request, has shown that the presence of speed cameras increases the number of personal injury accidents - accidents in which someone is hurt.
This doesn’t surprise me at all. As is probably obvious to most, speed cameras do not reduce speeding overall — they decrease speeding where the camera is. I’m sure everyone is familiar with the phenomenon: people approach a speed camera, slow down from 70mph to 40, and then accellerate back up to 70. I daresay more examples of strange driver behaviour exist. Indeed, the original story notes the comments of Paul Smith, of Safe Speed:
We have all seen strange driver behaviour where fixed speed cameras operate. This report highlights the dangers. We’re not surprised to see this information — we have know for years that speed cameras were the wrong road safety strategy, and it’s a huge relief to see the truth coming out so clearly
I don’t think the Department for Transport has responded to these revelations yet. I’ll be interested to see what they say.
Bookmark this post: 
