"Aidan Stanger" wrote in message
...
Nick wrote:

Is there any evidence that these cameras reduce injuries or deaths?
They don't have them in Germany and accidents there are decreasing at
more
than the rate here.

Well they have them in Dusseldorf, Bremen, Essen, Berlin and Munich all
cities in Germany.
The rabid anti-arguments all get a bit tiresome, so I will concentrate on
two roads which I know intimately and dealt with many serious accidents on.
A twelve mile stretch of the A40 between Headington and Witney there were 17
people killed in 13 accidents between 1990 and 1992. I have no information
on injury and damage only accidents. In 1993 the three speed cameras came
into use and in the twelve months following that there was only three
deaths. The following 12 months two. On the worst section for accidents at
Barnards Gate it went from seven fatalities in two years to none in the
following three. Similar results were seen at other locations. I helped
choose the sites where best to spend the limited funds on the initial
trials. Following retirement as a police officer I moved to Motorway Control
as a civilian. The force patrolled the more miles of motorway than any other
including the M25 from Hertfordshire to Surrey around Heathrow. The accident
rate on that stretch was higher than for all the other stretches we
controlled put together. The M4 and M40, A329M, A404M, A308M averaged about
half the RTA's on a daily basis that that short stretch of the M25 did. Once
the cameras were switched on along with the posted temporary speed limits,
the accident dropped dramatically. What accidents did occur were at lower
speeds and the results are lot less harmful to those involved. I moved on in
1999, and have no doubt that there are many alive today who would not have
been if speed enforcement hadn't been updated to make it more likely
motorists were caught speeding. Speed doesn't cause all accidents, but it is
a major factor in the severity of any impact, the lower the speed the less
chance of a serious outcome.