Safe Speed Forums

There are substantial claims for accident reduction resulting from the SPECS installation on the Stocksbridge bypass. I don't have the details on hand.

A traffic engineer mentioned to me at a recent meeting that the previous crashes were due to overtaking problems, and the main mechanism of accident reduction is that overtaking is "prevented" by the SPECS installation.

So not a direct effect of reduced speed, but a proxy effect on driver behaviour. It might count as a legitimate camera benefit under some circumstances, but it's certainly not a camera benefit as it is spun to us.

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Paul Smith
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I noticed that shortly after the SPECS sytem went live there was an accident just outside the area covered by it. I believe there was another recently just outside the opposite end of the SPECS area.

I'm not sure it prevents overtaking. I do think it makes overtaking much more dangerous as you constantly have one eye on the speedometer and often end up passing other traffic with only a few mph speed differential. Which leads to more incidences of running out of road where the crawler lane ends. (most of the road covered by SPECS has a crawler lane.

I predict a reduction in speed limits when they realise the SPECS has done nothing. Although the closure of the steel works could be a blessing as a number of accidents were the result of HGVs (LGVs) waiting to turn right causing traffic to back up on what is usually a fast road.


Some were, but one of the high profile accidents which led to the SPECS system being installed was caused by an unlicensed driver who had never taken a lesson and was under the influence of drugs thinking he was on a motorway and driving in the 3rd lane. (i.e. into oncoming traffic) I'm not exactly sure how SPECS is supposed to prevent that. Another was caused by a driver running out of road during an overtaking manouver, cutting in and clipping another vehicle. Nobody has ever said the driver in either instance was breaking the speed limit.

One last point. Depending on where you join and leave the road it is possible to only pass one camera. two being needed to get a speed reading.

I would be interested to know how other organisations respond to Scamera groups hogging the headlines.

for example:-
The driving (and motorcycle) test have become more comprehensive. Car design has improved.
Better safety education in schools
Cycle lanes (love them or hate them)
Better advice on pedestrian visibility
Improved road layout

All these things have had there part to play but whenever there is a reduction in casualies the Scamera Scum dive in first to claim the credit.
Of course when the figures go the other way as the often do the remain very quiet...

If I were in the local authority I would be p*ssed off big time!

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Speed camera policy Kills

I am fairly familiar with this road and can well believe that SPECS may have reduced casualties, as it encourages more cautious and circumspect overtaking.

However, there is still a clear difference in interpretation. I take the view that I can cruise at up to an indicated 65 and touch 70 for short periods while overtaking, while others seem religiously glued to 59. I have not had an NIP yet, so I assume I'm right. At the same time, I have been tailgated when overtaking at 68-70, presumably by people who either don't appreciate that the road has SPECS or have unregistered vehicles.

There are very few other roads with the same alternating 2+1 configuration. I note that the A303 Ilminster bypass in Somerset has recently been remarked in this way (it was previously two wide lanes where people would overtake "down the middle"). It will be interesting to see how this does in safety terms. It's a much flatter road, with no cameras, and when I drove it recently it seemed that where there were two lanes, drivers would pile past slower traffic at 80 or more.

SPECS is still rare because, in permanent installations, it makes no money for the scamera partnerships.

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"Show me someone who says that they have never exceeded a speed limit, and I'll show you a liar, or a menace." (Austin Williams - Director, Transport Research Group)

Any views expressed in this post are personal opinions and may not represent the views of Safe Speed

There is definitely a camera at Ilminster by-pass A303, positioned at the point where the two lanes (crawler lane and overtaking lane) begin to merge into one. Seems like a reasonable place to put a camera except sometimes it is safer to speed up a little in order to complete the overtaking in the limited space, rather than brake?

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