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Speed cameras' lousy image set to change
Mar 17 2005
Sally Williams, Western Mail
IMAGINE it - you're charged with turning the much-maligned grey speed camera into a friendly old soul you'd love to see at the end of your street.
Sound a tough one? Then spare a thought for the Mid and South Wales Safety Camera Partnership who've been given the task with doing just that. They've come up with an image along the lines of a kids' favourite cartoon character. They've decided a smiling, winking, yellow cartoon speed camera is just what they need to make the cameras endearing.
The adverts, pictured, now seen on buses and in motorway service stations, tackle the main criticisms levelled at the grey boxes lurking at the side of the roads.
The new-look cartoon camera smiles broadly, winks (or is that a camera flash capturing the motorist?) and says, "We don't want your money, we don't want your licence, we just want to save lives. Thank you for slowing down.'
Angharad Neagle, communications manager for the Mid and South Wales Safety Camera Partnership, said the campaign was already working.
She said, "Our smiling, winking character gives the speed camera a friendly appeal, it gives it an identity, although we still use our standard camera logo for more serious occasions.
"We get around 15 requests a week from people wanting speed cameras placed on their streets but they don't tend to want them sited a few miles up the road on their way to work.
"We find there is an extremely high demand for speed cameras over our area, covering three-quarters of Wales."
She said the campaign was targeting the people who regard speed cameras as an enemy.
She added, "We want to move away from the £60, three points image and to show motorists that speed cameras are their friends, making the roads safer for drivers and pedestrians. And the only people who pay for the running of the cameras are the ones who get speeding tickets."
Paul Smith, founder of the anti-cameras group SafeSpeed, said, "These cameras are just designed to catch responsible motorists who have never had an accident but are going a few miles per hour over the speed limit."
But John Rowling, camera group partnership manager, said, "We get hundreds of letters from motorists every year saying that they are usually very cautious drivers with an unblemished record, or that they didn't realise the speed they were travelling at.
"But some go to amazing lengths to avoid a speeding penalty with weird and wonderful excuses. Although some of these excuses may seem humorous, there is no excuse for speeding.
"Our approach is to educate motorists as well as enforce speed limits and these devices are already acting as a deterrent and making drivers think about their speeds. We have had excellent feedback from motorists who like this friendly reminder of how fast they are driving.
"The partnership's aim is to save lives and we want to give motorists every opportunity we can to slow down to make our roads a safer place for all. Wherever possible, we seek prevention rather than punishment."
Every year, around 190 people are killed and 1,600 seriously injured on Welsh roads.
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They didn't contact me for a quote - they just recycled something from a PR with a different topic!