Speed camera FOI data10 Jul 2012

English councils keep commitment to speed camera deterrent despite funding cuts

Two years after the Government announced major cuts in road safety funding, figures suggest fixed speed cameras continue to be used in most areas of England.

Data obtained following Freedom of Information (FOI) requests show that in England there are currently:

• 2,331 fixed speed camera sites
• 3,026 fixed speed camera housings
• 487 operational fixed cameras

A site is a single geographical location at which there might be more than one housing facing – for example – in different directions down a stretch of road.

Of the 38 organisations approached with FOI requests by the RAC Foundation four refused to answer any questions, while two others – Durham and Darlington, and North Yorkshire and York – have never used fixed speed cameras.

Of the 32 administrative bodies which did use fixed speed cameras and did respond, ten said they had made no change to the level of provision of sites, housings and cameras since 2010. Several others registered only small changes in provision over the past two years.

The biggest changes have been seen in Avon & Somerset, Northamptonshire and Wiltshire & Swindon where all operational cameras were switched off.

Despite an overall picture of continuing fixed speed camera operations, concern was raised by a number of those questioned about how the money would be found to replace increasingly obsolete wet-film cameras – those relying on old-style photographic film instead of digital technology – with new equipment.

One estimate is that an appropriate type-approved digital camera to replace a wet-film camera will cost in the region of £20,000.

Commenting on the figures, Professor Stephen Glaister, director of the RAC Foundation, said:

“Many people believe there has been a mass switch-off of cameras over the past couple of years. But the data shows that, overall, this is simply not true.

“The RAC Foundation’s best evidence is that if all speed cameras were turned off around 80 more people would be killed on the roads each year with 700 others seriously injured. Therefore we welcome these figures which suggest the majority of fixed cameras have been retained and housings are being kept in place to act as a deterrent.

“Although there are many more housings than cameras, it seems that the cameras are regularly rotated between them ensuring there is some level of positive enforcement at most sites. It is also important to note that many police constabularies rely heavily on mobile cameras to catch law breakers and in many cases have now have an increased emphasis on this type of operation.

“We are concerned funds won’t be available to purchase new equipment to replace increasingly antiquated film cameras. There is a lack of money for all aspects of road safety and we urge councillors to allocate adequate budgets to protect people on the roads by whatever means is appropriate. Recent figures showing that deaths on the road rose in 2011, for the first time since 2003, only reinforce the need to retain the focus on road safety.”

ENDS

Contact:

Philip Gomm – Head of External Communications:

 [email protected] | 020 7747 3445 | 020 7389 0601 (ISDN) | 07711 776448

Notes to editors:

The RAC Foundation is a transport policy and research organisation which explores the economic, mobility, safety and environmental issues relating to roads and their users. The Foundation publishes independent and authoritative research with which it promotes informed debate and advocates policy in the interest of the responsible motorist.

In June 2010, the Road Safety Minister Mike Penning wrote to all local authorities to say:

“After this financial year, we will be ending the discrete road safety capital grant, which has been closely associated with paying for new speed cameras.  We will also be reviewing the future arrangements for resource support to local authorities, as part of a wider planned rationalisation of funding support to local authorities.”

The FOI requests were made between December 2011 and January 2012 and responded to thereafter.

Details of the 38 organisations we approached for data came from the Department for Transport:

http://assets.dft.gov.uk/publications/fixed-speed-camera-data-sources/fixed-speed-camera-data-sources.pdf

The full list of data obtained under the FOI requests is available at:

www.racfoundation.org/assets/rac_foundation/content/downloadables/speed_camera_foi_data_for_publication.pdf

In November 2010 the RAC Foundation published a report called The Effectiveness of Speed Cameras: a review of evidence by Professor Richard Allsop. This is available at www.racfoundation.org

PLEASE NOTE: In the table below comparisons between annual cumulative totals are difficult to make because, while some partnerships were able to provide like for like data for both years, others were not.

	2010			2012
Partnership(1)	How many fixed speed cameras did you have operational in June 2010?	How many fixed camera housings did you have in place in June 2010?	How many fixed camera sites did you have operational in June 2010?	How many fixed speed cameras are currently (Jan 2012) operational?	How many fixed camera housings do you have currently (Jan 2012) in place?(2)	How many fixed camera sites do you have currently (Jan 2012) operational?(2)	Data Provider(s)
Avon & Somerset	Did not reply/answer	22	22	0	0	0	Somerset CC
Bedford Borough, Central Bedfordshire and Luton	22	56	41	22	56	41	Bedfordshire Police
Cambridgeshire and Peterborough	28	50	50	28	50	50	Cambridgeshire &  Peterborough RSP, Cambridgeshire Constabulary
Cheshire East, Cheshire West and Chester, Halton and Warrington	11	42	42	10	42	42	Cheshire Police
Cleveland	0	3	3	0	3	3	Cleveland Police
Cumbria	12	12	12	12	12	12	Cumbria Constabulary
Derby and Derbyshire	14	117	50	14	114	50	Derby & Derbyshire RSP
Devon & Cornwall	32	92	92	31	91	91	Devon & Cornwall SCP
Dorset, Bournemouth and Poole	24	37	37	24	15	15	Dorset Police
Durham and Darlington (have never used fixed cameras)	Not applicable	Not applicable	Not applicable	Not applicable	Not applicable	Not applicable	–
Essex, Southend and Thurrock	Did not reply/answer	Did not reply/answer	Did not reply/answer	Did not reply/answer	Did not reply/answer	Did not reply/answer	–
Gloucestershire	4	26	23	4	25	22	Gloucestershire CC
Greater Manchester(3)	Refused to answer	Refused to answer	Refused to answer	Refused to answer	Refused to answer	Refused to answer	Greater Manchester Police
Hampshire, Portsmouth, Southampton & the Isle of Wight	10	42	35	10	42	35	Hampshire Constabulary
Hertfordshire	Did not reply/answer	123	71	Did not reply/answer	128	73	Hertfordshire CC
Humberside	9	22	7	9	22	7	Safer Roads Humber
Kent & Medway Towns	21	78	78	19	78	78	Kent Police
Lancashire, Blackpool & Blackburn with Darwen(4)	48	287	287	31	282	282	Lancashire Police, Lancashire Partnership for Road Safety, Lancashire CC, Blackburn with Darwen BC, Blackpool C
Leicester, Leicestershire & Rutland(5)	9	20	13	10	20	13	Leicestershire Constabulary
Lincolnshire	21	53	51	26	53	51	Lincolnshire CC
London	Did not reply/answer	652	526	Did not reply/answer	652	526	TfL
Merseyside	Did not reply/answer	51	33	Did not reply/answer	50	32	Merseyside RSP
Norfolk	Did not reply/answer	Did not reply/answer	Did not reply/answer	Did not reply/answer	Did not reply/answer	Did not reply/answer	–
North Yorkshire and York (have never used fixed cameras)	Not applicable	Not applicable	Not applicable	Not applicable	Not applicable	Not applicable	–
Northamptonshire	23	48	48	0	48	0	Northamptonshire Police
Northumbria	21	46	26	11	48	35	Northumbria Police
Nottingham & Nottinghamshire	21	37	18	23	43	20	Nottinghamshire Police
South Yorkshire	18	65	47	18	65	45	S Yorkshire Police
Staffordshire & Stoke on Trent	Did not reply/answer	Did not reply/answer	Did not reply/answer	Did not reply/answer	Did not reply/answer	Did not reply/answer	–
Suffolk	5	7	5	3	6	2	Suffolk Constabulary
Surrey	10	31	31	10	31	31	Surrey CC
Sussex	Did not reply/answer	Did not reply/answer	59	Did not reply/answer	Did not reply/answer	59	Sussex SRP, Sussex Police
Thames Valley	22	291	Data not available	26	291	245	Thames Valley Police
Warwickshire	30	34	38	32	36	40	Warwickshire CC
West Mercia	15	28	28	16	28	28	West Mercia SRP
West Midlands	43	304	304	22	304	304	West Midlands Police, WM RSP
West Yorkshire	56	344	92	76	372	99	West Yorkshire CRP
Wiltshire & Swindon	Data not available	19	19	0	19	0	Wiltshire Police
TOTAL	529	3039	2188	487	3026	2331

 

Notes to the table:

In the table above the abbreviations are as follows:

BC = Borough Council

CC = County Council

CRP = Casualty Reduction Partnership

RSP = Road Safety Partnership

SCP = Safety Camera partnership

SRP = Safer Roads Partnership

TfL = Transport for London

This list of organisations is taken from the Department for Transport (http://assets.dft.gov.uk/publications/fixed-speed-camera-data-sources/fixed-speed-camera-data-sources.pdf). Road safety in England has been managed by partnerships which include local police, local fire brigade, local authorities and other relevant bodies.  Various names are used. A camera housing is the box at the roadside which holds a camera. Speed camera housings have a yellow reflective panel on them. A camera site is a geographical location (e.g., a road junction, a particular stretch of road) where a camera or cameras have been installed (Source: Transport for London). Where number of sites has not been given, the number of housings has been used as a proxy. FoI request rejected by virtue of Section 31(1)(a)(b)(c) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000. Collated from partnership member organisations. The red-speed camera in this area (and the housing/site for it) has been ignored because it has been used only for red light offences in the study period.