Safe Speed Forums

http://www.fleetnewsnet.co.uk/newshome/ ... hannelid=3

Cameras cause more road deaths' claim

CAMPAIGNERS who are calling for fewer speed cameras have warned that they actually encourage motorists to drive more dangerously, because they are constantly checking their speed.

According to Safe Speed, the campaign for 'genuine' road safety, drivers spend so long looking at their instruments to keep below posted limits when there are speed cameras that they are effectively 'driving blind'.

Its research is based on a straight single-carriageway A-road, with a 50mph speed limit.

Looking at a camera positioned 100 yards before a crossroads, which is highly visible and when traffic is light during daylight hours, a driver would lose up to 67% of road observation checking the speedo five times at 50mph. Checking just once would reduce observation time by 13%.

The Safe Speed website says: 'The road to hell is paved with good intentions and so it is with speed cameras. Good intentions abound and yet the road to hell is right outside your door.'

According to Safe Speed, there is a clear tendency for road deaths to increase where speed cameras are most used.

The top four speeding fine areas (Essex, Lancashire, Thames Valley and Derbyshire) collectively saw road deaths increase between 2002 and 2003 by 12.2% from 376 to 422, despite issuing almost 600,000 speeding tickets between them, Safe Speed claimed.

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

Found this at the foot of the same page...

Diarmuid Fahy, accident services manager at Interleasing said: 'Speeding is a very important issue, but it has become one of the main focuses of the driving debate, mainly because of the arguments for and against speed cameras.

'Our figures reveal that excessive speed is only a predominant issue for fleet managers because of the administrative issues of sorting out fines.

'The only lesson a driver learns when he or she is caught on a speed camera is not to get caught there again. Just because the vast majority of drivers in the survey were not speeding does not mean they were driving well. The focus should be on education as to good driving practice, of which speed is one element,' he added.

Got to agree with that statement in red particularly.

Just googled my own name and found this (egotistical of me, I know!)

I'm still around, a lone voice in the wilderness, trying to keep my head while all around me are losing theirs...