UK SPEED CAMERA HATRED MAKES INTERNATIONAL NEWS
27 October 2006 - Safe Speed

The New York Times today reports on widespread UK hatred for speed cameras, but
it''s a great shame that they didn''t address the big questions, says Safe Speed.

The big questions, of course, are:

* Do speed cameras make our roads safer?

Safe Speed is certain that they do not. Roads fatalities and hospitalisations
haven''t fallen significantly for a decade. Only Department for Transport''s
dodgy ''KSI'' statistic shows any real improvement. It''s hardly surprising that
speed cameras aren''t making our roads safer because only one in twenty crashes
involve a vehicle exceeding a speed limit.

* Why do people (really) hate speed cameras?

Speed cameras make ordinary experienced drivers uncomfortable because they
interfere with the process of safe driving. We know very well, thanks, how fast
to drive because we are skilled risk managers. Speed cameras require effort at
the precious and limited conscious layer of the driving process, while
essential safety skills in observation, anticipation, risk assessment and risk
management judgements take place largely at a lower subconscious layer. It is
these subconscious skills that deliver our excellent road safety record and
they must be respected and enhanced by ''psychologically sound'' road safety
policies.

Paul Smith, founder of the Safe Speed road safety campaign
(www.safespeed.org.uk) said: ''Speed cameras will go down in history as the
biggest mistake we have ever made in road safety. They will join the ''red flag
act'' in the bad joke classification. I am absolutely certain that speed cameras
are at the root of the policy changes that have lead to the failure in road
safety improvements. If speed cameras had never been invented, Our annual road
deaths would be 1,200 per year lower at around 2,000, not 3,200 and stalled.''

''Speed cameras are now indirectly responsible for one third of road deaths.
Let''s make speed cameras as socially unacceptable as drink driving.''

www.safespeed.org.uk

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