Safe Speed Forums

A14 stats look good for new cameras

http://www.towncriertoday.co.uk/news/A1 ... 3576190.jp

Figures released today (Wednesday, December 13) show that since the introduction of average speed cameras on the A14 there has been a reduction in collisions.
During the first two months of the cameras going live, the road between the A14 Spittals interchange and the M11 saw the number of collisions more than halve.

Between July 15 and September 15 this year there were eight collisions on that stretch of the A14, compared to 21 for the same period in 2006.

During the same period this year no-one has been seriously injured, with just 12 people suffering minor injuries, compare to three serious injuries and 36 minor injuries for the same period in 2006.

Inspector Matt Johnson said: "We are still at the early stages of this process and it would be too soon to speculate on the long term impact of the cameras but these initial figures are encouraging.

"Installing the cameras was never about making money through speeding fines, but about reducing speed to save lives and reduce serious injuries."

During the first four months since the cameras went live on July 9 there have been 258 speeding offences identified. As a comparison during the week of testing before July 9, 91 offences were identified.

Inspector Johnson added: "We have seen a substantial reduction in the number of speeding offences which is encouraging.

"Excessive and inappropriate speed is one of the main contributors to avoidable collisions that result in death or serious injuries.

"I hope this early success will demonstrate to the public the importance of reducing their speed and to those who continue to ignore the law it will act as a warning."

The SPECS cameras work by using automatic average speed digital technology. A pair of cameras are linked to create a speed control zone, and groups of cameras are then linked to create a speed controlled network. As vehicles pass between camera pairs they are recorded. The time taken to travel between two known points is used to calculate the average speed.

If a vehicle's speed is above the speed threshold, a violation record is created which includes images of the index of the vehicle at the two points and a colour image of the vehicle. The cameras operate 24 hours a day across the network.

The polics say SPECS have been shown to improve the flow of traffic and it is hoped that by drivers sticking to the correct limit it will reduce the congestion along the road.

The full article contains 421 words and appears in n/a newspaper.Last Updated: 11 December 2007 4:36 PM

Also see items at;

http://www.safespeed.org.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?t=16734
.
and

http://www.q103.co.uk/Article.asp?id=530473&spid=13081

A14 cameras 'working well'

The new average speed camera's on the A14 have cut the number of accidents and injuries on the road, according to Police.

The camera's cover the stretch between the M11 and the Spittles Interchange and have been active since mid-July.

They measure a driver's average speed between two set points, rather than the speed as they go past the camera.

Figures for the first two months show both accidents and injuries are less than half that of last year.

Between mid-July and mid-September 2006 there were 21 crashes and 36 people injured, but in the same period this year there were only eight accidents and 12 people hurt.

Police say that's exactly the sort of impact they hoped they would have, although they say they will have to wait to see if they will have the same impact in the long term.

In the four months since they went live, just over 250 speeding tickets have been handed out.

Inspector Matt Johnson, from Cambridgeshire Police's Road Policing Unit, said "I hope this early success will demonstrate to the public the importance of reducing speed and to those who continue to ignore the law it will act as a warning".
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That section of the A14 used to have several Gatsos. The speeds now seem no different (nowhere near 70mph because of all the elephant racing lorries) but what has changed is that the traffic is flowing more smoothly because people are no longer braking near the cameras. I suspect that they would have seen the same improvement if they had just removed the Gatsos.

There's some MAJOR cherry picking going on here.

What happened between 9th and 15th July?
What happened after the 15th September?

And just how big is RTTM?

_________________
Paul Smith
Our scrap speed cameras petition got over 28,000 sigs
The Safe Speed campaign demands a return to intelligent road safety

Each year .. around March 18-22 .. we as a large family trek to Cambridge/



We posted up link to Cambs site which informed us of mobile speed trap.

OK .. fine..

But then they informed us of the reason for this. (They removed this after we raged at them as collective .. I think the Swiss shot in foot as this was AMMUNITION BIG TIME)

You see .. the site in 2004 to 2005 told us that 400 folk died at this A14 cam van spot between 2000 to 2004.

Divide by 4 and this is 100 on that day each year.

But the relative in question hosts a huge party on that day each year to celebrate his marriage. No one in family was held up. This family boast high proportion of medics. The family member in question happens to be the Stray Cat He's a rare cat on internet /.. but his outbursts are worth the wait

But no one was held up in an one year and the Stray Cat has been married a while and has kids older than ours and qualified in professions now.,

No one was called to a "status red alert" as would have been the case if hundreds were KSI here on the dates claimed.


It did not happen. I would take all stats offered by these prats with a pinch of salt.

In fairness.. I am inclined to believe in our Steve before these other idiots.


Steve .. he may be very silly and blinkered. He does at least indulge in banter with me and my wife on the Pistonhead site Me and my wife will not rise to insult . but are honest with Steve in that we are indulginf in light banter with him I think he knows this as an man with some intelligence. I am fair minded.. and trust Steve who lurks here but posts on PH sees this fairness on our part

But whilst he does a spin on stats.. he is not at all as dishonest as tothers and I really must point this out even if I do not agree with his point of view. But even so .. I think he does see some issues we raise and I base this opinion on off line inter-action

I am fair .. lurking Steve and JJ group I banter and tease / I do not condemn without just cause.. nor does my wife. or In Gear

But.. the incidents?

Heck we are talking red alert and this did not happen on the dates claimed for total carnage on that date in history for over 20years or so. We attend the anniversary of a family marriage. Family comes FIRST with us

Call us old fashioned .. but we know we have supports for any crisis here and are fully cushioned and comfy here

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I was thinking about this tonight as I drove along this section of the A14. 258 really is not many at all condsidering that there have been several million vehicles passing in four months.

I managed to get to 70 for a few hundred yards tonight. For the rest of the 12 mile stretch I was mostly doing 50-60 mph in a long queue (the same as always). Speeding is definitely not the problem here because you can rarely get near the limit let alone exceed it.

Road is busy and when we drive it each March and other odd occasions of the Stray Cat's "wild parties" - rarely get above a crawl at this section anyway. There's the odd cut up.. barge into lane and shunt. I would guess the 258 occurred off peak .. late at night/early morning.

But I do have a question for the police down in Cambs

If the accident rate is "down" - how come this Spittles place is always mentioned on the national traffic bulletins morning and evening as "traffic queuing/queues are horrendous and in a right mess at Spittles Interchange due to an accident


Hell - it's more frequent than Shap

_________________
If you want to get to heaven - you have to raise a little hell!

Smilies are contagious
They are just like the flu
We use our smilies on YOU today
Now Good Causes are smiling too!

KEEP SMILING
It makes folk wonder just what you REALLY got up to last night!

Smily to penny.. penny to pound
safespeed prospers-smiles all round! !
But the real message? SMILE.. GO ON ! DO IT! and the world will smile with you!
Enjoy life! You only have the one bite at it.