Safe Speed Forums

I'm sure I read somewhere (it might have been the Times) that the report that the government has ordered into cameras is being conducted by Mervyn Stone at UCL.

He is the same guy who last year published a report concluding that cameras do save lives and they would be even better if hideen:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/today/reports/politics/speedcameras2_20040624.shtmlLink

Surely the conclusion of this year's reports is therefore pre-determined?

And didn't someone tip us off a few months ago in Anonymous Submissions that the DFT were preparing for a switch back to hidden cameras? This could be interesting.

Damn. I can't find the place where I read this now. Maybe I got my wires crossed about his latest involvement.

Anyone know anything?

I doubt it very much - although someone on Pistonheads said the same thing. Mervyn Stone was hired by Radio 4 as an independent statistician / ajudicator to asses the claims I was making against the claims the authorities are making. I'm confident in claiming that I 'won the contest'. Mervyn Stone's final conclusion was:

"The “roll out" of safety cameras by separate Safety Partnerships was initiated by DoT. Its management was placed in the hands of the private sector company PA Consulting Group. This “cost recovery" program has failed except for the HMT requirement that it should be self-financing. There has been a failure to design the program so that it would provide the information needed to evaluate alternative ways of getting the benefits of speed camera enforcement. The emphasis on political acceptability has led the program down a cul de sac in which essential public trust has been lost. The mistakes already made should be openly recognised, and the program should be subjected to a root and branch rethink."

Much more via:
http://www.safespeed.org.uk/stone.html (22,000 words of reports, for a start!)

Some of the stuff on the Radio 4 website can hardly be described as 'objective'. I've been told since that Radio 4's intention was to trash my work. Didn't work did it?

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

Is Heydecker in charge of this report again? Can we expect it to conclude anything differently from last year?

Excellent question, and one that the DfT failed to answer when asked under the FoIA.



Exactly. Safe Speed issued the following PR on 22nd July:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/SafeSpeedPR/message/67

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

i hope they do install the 500 new cameras. That way we will all be banned by next christmas. Maybe then they'll rethink this nonse camera policy.