The Proof That Speed Cameras Don't Save Lives

Experts find no fall in fatal crashes in cities – despite millions of fines

Mail On Sunday, May 22nd 2005, Andrew Baxter and Martin Delgado

Speed cameras do nothing to save lives on city streets, new research has proved.

Experts studying the impact of the widely despised devices, which have raised £700million in fines since they were introduced, say they have no effect on reducing serious crashes in built-up areas.

After studying almost 150 accident blackspots, the academics concluded: “We could not detect a significant change in fatal and serious crashes at camera sites.”

The findings will fuel fears that the cameras are installed as moneyspinners, rather than for road safety reasons, especially as Britain's 6000-camera network is expected to double in size over the next few years, with urban areas being particularly targeted.

But this new study from Liverpool University's civil engineering department casts serious doubt over the cameras' effectiveness.

Dr Linda Mountain, who led the researchers, said the value of speed cameras had been ‘exaggerated.' “Speed humps and similar devices had a significant impact (on reducing serious accidents) but cameras didn't,” she said last night. “It was a surprise – I had expected to find some reduction.”

She also said that the policy of installing cameras only on streets where there had been a spate of accidents could skew the results to make them seem more effective.

The devices can be placed only at spots where at least four people had been killed or seriously injured in three years, according to Department of Transport rules. But such high accident rates could be unusual statistical peaks; meaning the accident rate would fall naturally, even if no action were taken.

“Cameras tend to be used at locations with a high accident frequency,” Dr Mountain said. “But if you do nothing, you would tend to have fewer accidents in a subsequent time period … Estimates of the effectiveness of cameras are almost certainly overestimates if they don't take account of this statistical effect … Recent reports have exaggerated the potential effectiveness of cameras.”

Dr Mountain's research, conducted in 30mph zones throughout the country where cameras, road humps and other traffic-calming measures such as chicanes had been installed, did discover that cameras had one effect – reducing minor accidents by 22 per cent.

Her team's findings, funded by the Government's Engineering and Physical Science Research Council and due to be published by the journal Accident Analysis and Prevention, underlines campaigners' fears that cameras are being wrongly used.

Sue Nicholson, head of campaigns at the RAC, said: “We have become fixated on speed cameras and need to think up more innovative ways of changing driving behaviour.”

But other road safety campaigners said cameras were an effective way of cutting serious accidents, two thirds of which occur in 30mph zones.

Robert Gifford, director of the Parliamentary Advisory Council for Transport Safety said: “Increasing numbers of drivers are recognising the dangers of breaking the speed limit in areas where vulnerable road users are likely to be present. Speed cameras have undoubtedly played a major role in achieving this.”

More than two million motorists received £60 fixed penalties after being caught by speed cameras last year and that figure is expected to jump by 50 per cent this year. More than four in ten drivers now have points on their licences, thanks to the spread of cameras.

Last week, it was reported that motorists face a new network of speed cameras that will track their cars across city streets. These new devices will calculate average speeds so drivers cannot outwit them with sudden braking.

The Department for Transport insisted the introduction of speed cameras had proved effective on urban roads.

A spokesman said: “There have been significant casualty reductions at camera sites across the board. In particular, the number of pedestrians and cyclists killed or injured has fallen – and these are the people most likely to be at risk in accidents where the speed limit is 30mph or below.”