Accidents UP at Speed Camera Sites

Reported by Sunderland Today on the 1st September, 2004:

NEW figures reveal that accidents and injuries at speed camera sites in Sunderland have INCREASED in recent years.

Instead of falling, the number of people hurt at fixed and mobile camera sites in the city has gone up, along with the number of bumps, scrapes and crashes.

Drivers and motoring organisations today said the figures show cameras in the city are "nothing but a fix" designed to feed a "revenue-raising bottomless pit". But Safe Speed for Life - responsible for siting cameras in Sunderland - hit back, claiming it is too early to draw any firm conclusions.

The number of casualties at camera sites in the city rocketed from 65 in 1999-2000 to 103 in 2003-04. The most startling increase came in the number of minor injuries, rising from 55 to 96.

Anti-camera campaigners say the figures show what motorists have been saying all along, that speed cameras in Sunderland don't stop accidents.

Joyce Brown, 77, of Seaburn, snapped speeding three times on Whitburn Bents Road in less than 30 minutes, says she is not surprised by the findings. Mrs Brown, who had a clean driving licence for 40 years, said: "People are so busy looking at their speedometers that they're probably not paying much attention to the road."

Nigel Humphries, from the Association of British Drivers, said: " Instead of placing speed cameras in areas with safety issues, they are being put where speed limits are low, thereby criminalising normal progress along the road. "

Bosses at Safe Speed for Life say the number, and severity, of collisions is influenced by a wide range of factors, only one of which is the presence of road safety cameras.

A spokeswoman for the organisation said: " We will be testing how effective the cameras have been against previous years' data. "Our aim is to prevent all collisions and injuries. The figures are still too high and we will not become complacent."