RadarExpress News, the Road Safety Bill

Motoring Industry News

The first £1,000,000 speed camera

Motoring campaign groups have attacked a "revenue-raising" temporary speed camera which has brought in over £1 million in fines during the past 18 months.
The Gatso camera at roadworks on the M62 at Ferrybridge, has raised £1,088,000 from 18,000 drivers. The RAC Foundation said the camera was obviously not deterring motorists from speeding and the issue seemed to be more about revenue than safety. The Highways Agency said it used cameras where necessary for safety, but Edmund King, Executive Director of the RAC Foundation, said he doubted safety was the main aim of the camera.

"The camera’s objective should have been to slow people down. It is obvious it was not doing it's job by the number of motorists speeding. It raises the issue of whether this is more about revenue-raising than safety." he said. The motorists caught by the camera also forfeited some 50,000 penalty points on their driving licences. Philip Gwynne from the West Yorkshire Casualty Reduction Partnership said: "Anybody who feels that the cameras are just there to raise revenue has the power in their own hands to stop it happening. You just don’t speed. Then you can't get a speeding ticket and they can't raise revenue and we can all pack up and go home." The Highways Agency said it was "appropriate" to use cameras to enforce speed limits and protect roadworkers.

Formula 1 fitness is only a drive away

Motorobics is an innovative new in-car fitness plan aimed at drivers with little time to get to the gym or watch their waistline. It encourages drivers to use the reputed one week a year that we all spend sitting in traffic, to get fit. Motorobics promises to improve posture, reduce the risk of back problems, help avoid road rage and ward off driver fatigue. The plan has been scientifically researched by Dean Hodgkin BSc, the UK’s foremost expert on peak performance and fitness lifestyle; he also presents this unique fitness regime. The two disc box-set includes a 60 minute CD with in-car exercise instruction and a DVD based user guide with explanation and instruction. For further information or to place an order visit www.deanhodgkin.com Motorobics is priced at £16.79 + £2.45 delivery.

Tractor gets 85 mph speed camera ticket

The Mid and South Wales Safety Camera Partnership recently issued a Notice of Intended Prosecution to Wiltshire farmer Steve Crossman, claiming they had photographic evidence that his tractor had been driving 85 MPH on the A465 near Neath. Despite the official accusation, Crossman’s 2000 John Deere 6910 tractor had never been near that location. “It’s a good tractor, but not that good,” he told BBC News. “It can just about get up to 26mph, but that’s downhill, with a following wind and with no trailer on the back. There’s no way it could get close to 85mph.” Ticket camera partnership officials dropped charges against Crossman after he notified
them of the error. Officials are investigating why their “checking system” failed to detect such an obvious mistake.

Speed cameras are child's play

Primary school children may not be anywhere near old enough to drive, but they’re old enough to learn that speed cameras are there to benefit them. That'’s what the Kent and Medway Speed Camera Partnership are teaching students at seven local schools. The initiative included a competition where thirteen suitable entries were used to create a calendar with procamera messages and artwork rendered in crayon. The calendar is being offered at no cost to local residents. None of the winning 2006 entries mention that Kent’s cameras dispensed 82,906 speeding tickets worth £4.9 million last year, and cameras nationwide generated £700 million in revenue. Another speed camera partnership in Humberside recently found in its own annual survey found that 63% of residents believe speed cameras are "an easy way to make money."

Back to news