CAMERAS UP. DEATHS UP IN CUMBRIA FOR THE SECOND YEAR RUNNING
25 July 2005 - Safe Speed

Recent Department for Transport (DfT) figures appeared to show a cut in speed camera sites in Cumbria.

But upon investigation it turned out to be an administrative error and in fact camera sites increase by 48%.

For the second year running road deaths in Cumbria have increased.

Paul Smith, founder of the Safe Speed road safety campaign
(www.safespeed.org.uk) said: ''We see this pattern again and again. In places where speed cameras are heavily used road deaths often increase. Our extensive research concludes that far from saving lives, speed cameras are causing road safety resources to be misallocated. Drivers pay more attention to their speedometers when they should be paying more attention to the road ahead.''

Deaths on the roads in Cumbria (source DfT):

2001 49
2002 49
2003 54
2004 57

Camera sites (source DfT, corrected by Cumbria partnership):

2003 33 (joined partnership scheme)
2004 49

Paul Continues: ''A recently published public opinion survey by the Cumbria Partnership indicates that people believe that speed camera save lives. Isn''t it high time the public were told the truth?''

www.safespeed.org.uk

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