Town That Scrapped 'Motorist Tax' Speed Cameras Sees No Increase in Accidents

The first town in Britain to scrap fixed speed cameras has seen no increase in accidents, it was revealed yesterday. But the number of motorists prosecuted for speeding there dropped by more than 40 per cent.

Swindon switched off its cameras over claims they were a ' blatant tax on the motorist' which did nothing to improve safety.

Yesterday, supporters of the move hailed the figures as proof they were right. Now the Conservative-run council has urged other authorities to follow suit, saying the money can be better spent on other measures to cut casualties.

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High-tech Speed Cameras Which Use Satellites to Track Motorists on Secret Trial in Britain

Speed cameras which communicate with each other by satellite are being secretly tested on British roads.

The hi-tech devices can follow drivers’ progress for miles to calculate whether they have broken speed limits.
Combining number plate recognition technology with global positioning satellites, they can be set up in a network to monitor tens of thousands of cars over huge areas for the smallest breach.

Known as SpeedSpike, the system uses similar methods of recognition as the cameras which enforce the congestion charge in London, and allow two cameras to 'talk' to each other if a vehicle appears to have travelled too far in too short a space of time.'

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Proof Speed Cameras Exist to Rake in Money as Receipts Finally Fall

Motorists have been hit with speeding tickets worth almost £1billion under Labour, a report shows.

But receipts have fallen since police were stopped from keeping part of the money raised from speed cameras.

It suggests that the explosion in the number of cameras was used as a 'cash cow' and that forces no longer have an incentive to install them.

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Fury Over Speed Guns That Can See in the Dark

Furious campaigners hit out yesterday at plans to arm police with the radars that can pin a speeding conviction on a driver who will not have any warning.

The new super speed guns work over a distance of more than a mile and can note a car’s registration number from 100 yards away.

Critics last night branded the move as “totally inappropriate” and a backdoor tax on the country’s beleaguered car owners. Up until now handheld speed guns have only been able to work in daylight, giving motorists a clear view of the officer holding it.

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Nearly All Speed Cameras in Britain Illegal, Court is Told

Evidence was gathered illegally because 6,000 speed cameras were not given proper Parliamentary approval, it was claimed in a test case.

The action has been brought by a Aitken Brotherston, 61, a businessman from Lyme, Cheshire, who is appealing against a speeding conviction.

Michael Shrimpton, his counsel, told Manchester Crown Court that the case had wide-ranging implications.

It could mean that an estimated £600 million collected in fines and accompanying penalty points were invalid and trigger an avalanche of compensation claims from motorists.

Mr Shrimpton said a change in the 1988 Road Traffic Offenders Act in 1991 had not been properly implemented.

Until then the law that merely required the Home Secretary to approve the technical evaluation of the speed cameras. But since then additional Parliamentary approval has also been required for the devices.

Successive Home Secretaries, starting with Michael Howard in 1992, had failed to do so.

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Speed cameras to get longer reach

SPEED cameras that track drivers over long distances by measuring average speed are to be deployed on motorways, at accident black spots and in residential areas.
The Home Office is expected to grant approval for the technology in January. Ministers plan to install them as replacements for Gatso and Truvelo cameras, which measure speed over only a few yards, meaning that motorists can brake as they pass the cameras and then accelerate again. The new cameras can enforce the speed limit over stretches of up to six miles.
The average speed cameras work in pairs, monitoring the time each car takes to travel between two points. The system then calculates its average speed over that distance.
Such cameras are currently used on motorways only during roadworks.

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So now the agenda becomes clearer. Speed cameras were only supposed to be placed at accident blackspots and have been proved not to save lives but to make money.
So now they are going to replace them with camera networks that cover up to 6 miles at a time.

Big Brother and the Surveillance State in action!