Calls to pull down motorway speed camera that INCREASED the number of crashes

 

By Ray Massey

Last updated at 4:37 PM on 05th January 2009

 

 

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Since the camera, like this one, appeared the number of accidents has risen by a quarter

 

Speed camera bosses are under fire after it was revealed that a controversial motorway camera put up to save lives has actually INCREASED the number of crashes and injuries.

The number of accidents have risen by a quarter and casualties almost doubled since the bright yellow Gatso camera was put up on a stretch of the busy M11 motorway in Essex.

Police said crashes were happening because motorists were slowing down ahead of the camera and then speeding up once they were clear of it - a phenomenon known as 'surfing'.

Campaigners said it demonstrated the madness of the speed camera mania, and accused the authorities of using the devices to raise cash rather than save lives.

The latest speed camera fiasco was exposed by motoring campaigner Paul Pearson who forced the authorities to release the figures under a Freedom of Information request to the Government's Highways Agency, an arm of the Department for Transport, on whose road the camera is sited.

 

The camera under fire is located on the southbound lane of the M11 between junctions 5 and 4 where the motorway narrows from three lanes to two and the speed limit drops from 70mph to 50mph.

In the five years before the camera was put up, there were 13 accidents and 14 casualties.

 

 

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But in the five years after the device appeared, the number of accidents rose to 16 and casualty levels nearly doubled to 24.

 

Today the row led to a merry-go-round of buck-passing between Essex Police, Essex County Council, the Department for Transport, the Highways Agency - each of which in turn referred calls on to the others.

Eventually the Government's Highways Agency admitted:'No-one is disputing the figures. The camera is on our road. But it is administered by the Essex safety-camera partnership. And the police are responsible for enforcement.'

Essex council, the police and the Highways Agency are all part of the speed camera partnership.

Mr Pearson, who runs the website http://www.penaltycharge-notice.co.uk said:'What may well be one of the most profitable speed cameras in the country is actually causing accidents and injuries and yet Essex Police are refusing to remove it.'

He said:''In February 2008 we witnessed the aftermath of a three car pile up immediately in front of the camera. It was obvious that it was the camera that caused the accident because cars were having to reduce speed and merge and then of course some motorists slam on their brakes when they pass the camera.

 

'So we asked the department of transport for the accident and casualty statistics. The camera was installed in May 2001. In the first 5 months of 2001 (pre speed camera) there was one slight accident with 1 slight casualty.

'In the second half of 2001 (post camera installation) there was one serious accident, 4 slight accidents, 1 serious casualty and 10 slight casualties. Now you don't need a degree in traffic management to see that the camera should have been removed immediately.'

Mr Pearson continued:'In the 5½ years prior to its installation there were a total of 13 accidents and 14 casualties. In the 5½ years post installation there were 18 accidents and 26 casualties.

'At the same time we suspect millions of pounds has been made. How much we don't know because after three requests to Essex police and a complaint to the Information Commissioner’s Office, they are refusing to disclose the number of fixed penalty notices issued due to "operational reasons".

Mr Pearson said he had written to Essex police and his MP:' We pointed out that this camera is causing accidents and injuries and provided them with the statistics which we obtained from the Department of Transport. '

Mr Pearson said:'The undisputed fact is that no lives have been saved by this camera and many more accidents have occurred and people been injured as a result of it. The partnership that runs the camera is ironically called "The Essex casualty reduction partnership'. How do they all get away with it?'

A spokesman for Essex Police said:'The motorists are causing the accidents. People are slowing down for the cameras and then speeding up again. This in turn causes the collisions.' They shouldn't be speeding up. They should stick to the speed limit.'

He added:' The camera is there to reduce collisions and to reduce congestion into the nearby A406.'

Official Department for Transport figures reveal that just 3 per cent of car accidents are caused by drivers exceeding the speed limit.

But nationally around 2million motorists a year are hit with speeding fines and a £60 fixed penalty from around 6,000 cameras.

Speed cameras already face the axe from a Tory council which has condemned them as a ''blatant tax on the motorist'. They plan to scrap £400,000 a year funding for the speed-traps and to pull out of the Government's speed camera partnership scheme. Other councils are set to follow.

Ministers predict a boom in new generation digital 'average speed cameras' which track a vehicle over many miles and work out its average speed over the distance. This puts a stop to drivers 'surfing' through speed traps.

They should get rid of it on grounds of speed cameras cause more accidents

They should get rid of it on grounds of speed cameras cause more accidents

 

Exactly! But the government makes a lot of money from them...:veryangry2: