Use of camera cash is wrong
http://www.thisisstaffordshire.co.uk/Use-camera-cash-wrong/story-15121369-detail/story.html
BETWEEN 1995 and 2002, I was the manager of the Staffordshire Safety Camera Office and as a police officer with experience of both community policing and as traffic officer I understood the need for unattended 24/7 cameras to monitor and enforce inappropriate speeds. My understanding was that the cameras would, if located correctly, help reduce the severity of collisions and thereby make parts of our road system safer.
The value of the cameras would therefore be measured by the reduction of offences, as well as the reduction in injuries.
I was disappointed when the Government of the time and under pressure from the police and local authorities agreed to introduce the Hypothecation Project and turned the cameras into a method of indirect taxation. I decided then to walk away from the project I had so valued.
I was and always will support the deployment of cameras to enforce speed limits.
What I object to is the management of the cameras and the way money generated from them is used. The Hypothecation project was introduced with a direct link to the Exchequer's Office.
The project was then linked directly to the number of prosecutions with the numbers being increased with each tranche of the project.
Each partnership would be required to submit targets for the amount of money raised and if they failed to reach those targets the short fall would be met by the local authority.
Needless to say it was clear from those already involved in the scheme that they would ensure that they prosecuted greater numbers to ensure the targets were met.
At meetings I attended, the forecasts were that within three to five years speeding would be as anti-social as drink driving and that it would be difficult to catch speeders as most would have been put off because of the fear of being caught.
This statement was made 10 years ago to date. I now read in The Sentinel that the police and authorities are thinking of raising the prosecution levels in order to ensure that they get a flow of drivers to attend the driver improvement scheme. This is the exact opposite to the forecasts made by the then head of North Wales Police who was in charge of the project.
At the same time the Hypothecation project was introduced Staffordshire Police and many other forces reduced their traffic policing. Overnight Staffordshire reduced the traffic patrols from 200 to less than 20.
Rather than speeding being treated as anti-social in much the way of drink driving, I get the impression that drink driving is again on the increase. Figures released for the Christmas period were I believe disappointing with drivers being caught at all hours of the day.
In truth the lack of traffic patrols and the high visibility deterrent they have on drivers, I would argue, means that the roads are in fact less safe than previously.
It is appalling cameras are now being used as almost a threat to the safety of road users in Staffordshire.
Our safety and that of the public using our roads is being measured by the amount of money it can keep raising to fund itself and while I am sure that there have been casualty reductions it is clear that the path chosen was the wrong one. More road policing officers and reduced collision hot spots should ensure safer roads.
When I was a traffic officer the Association of Chief Police Officers offered the following advice: 'Target those drivers who are most likely to cause the greatest dangers to others.' This blanket process fails to do that and therefore is seen by the majority of just another stealth tax.
STEVE WALSH Ashley Heath
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