News & Events

How to reduce speeding in our towns?

Swindon Borough Council plans to pull £400,000 out of a speed camera project, believing that the fixed speed cameras in Swindon are not reducing speeding overall. This will be the first Local Authority in the UK to do so, and a press release at the bottom of this page gives more detail.

Councillors are calling for the funds to be spent on improved signage, better lighting and vehicle-activated signs which may be more effective at reducing speeds generally.

While fixed speed cameras have seemingly helped to nationally reduce deaths and serious injuries near the sites, there is evidence to suggest that in urban situations (and this would include SMTF Member towns’ centres) fixed speed cameras are not the most effective way of reducing speed, as drivers who speed know where they are and speed elsewhere, as well as drivers not concentrating on the road when passing camera sites.

Some of the features that have been proved to work in northern Europe town centres (and in HomeZones in cities in the UK) include;

  • Improved lighting (where appropriate)
  • Physical measures, including reducing the carriageway width, raising the carriageway to form ‘tables’ that can also act as pedestrian crossings and the use of different surface materials
  • Removing painted lines from roads actually reduces speed because drivers do not have the visual aids to drive at their previous speed. An example of this is the centre of Langport where lines were removed at the same time as a 20mph zone was created
  • Improved signage, and this can include the removal of non-essential signs at important gateways i.e. entering a town centre
  • 20mph speed limit zones – especially in historic towns with narrow streets, reducing the speed from 30 to 20mph can make a significant difference in survival for pedestrians in an accident
  • Effective policing i.e. mobile, discrete speed cameras can be effective if regularly used. Community Speedwatch has also had a positive effect on all but the boy racers.
  • In certain situations, using the Shared Space concept, where pedestrians have equal priority to vehicles, has been effective. Ben Hamilton-Baillie is a champion of this approach, read more on his website.

If you would like to learn more about modern traffic calming methods, there are a number of resources you should be aware of;

Manual for Streets – the DoT and DCLG’s guide to good street design (focusses on residential streets but the methods can equally be applied in town centre situations).

‘Streets for All’ from English Heritage.

‘Paved with gold: the real value of street design’ from CABE  – the economic case for quality street design.

Also, read about Axbridge's recent traffic study.

A Press Release on the Swindon Cameras decision follows;

“The Council wants to spend the money on local safety measures, such as vehicle-activated speed signs and claims the devices are a 'blatant tax on the motorist'.

Its proposal is believed to be the first time a council has publicly accused the Government of installing speed cameras to make money rather than prevent accidents.

If the council axes its annual payment to the Wiltshire and Swindon Safety Camera Partnership, funding for cameras in the county could ultimately dry up. These include controversial mobile traps on the M4.

Yesterday Tory councillor Peter Greenhalgh, head of highways for Swindon, said: 'We treat road safety seriously but we pay about £400,000 a year to the partnership, which goes straight into the Government's pockets.

'We don't get anything back. Instead this money should be spent on local safety measures. These are far more effective than speed cameras which, I feel, are a blatant tax on the motorist.

'They are being used as a cash cow. I take exception to the positioning of some mobile speed cameras. They are designed to raise revenue. Enough is enough.'

He said it would be up to the safety partnership to remove the cameras or continue operating them without the council's money.

In 2007-8, nearly 30,000 people in Wiltshire received speeding tickets, generating £1.76 million, £252,300 in Swindon alone.

The previous year, when a major road scheme was in force, more than 51,000 tickets were issued, generating more than £3million, of which £314,700 was in Swindon.

The safety partnership said speed cameras had led to a 70 per cent drop in the number of deaths and serious injuries on the county's roads. This included a 50 per cent reduction on the M4.

The council is acting after a change allowed the Treasury to keep the millions paid in speed fines instead of the safety partnerships, made up of councils, police and the courts.

Councils now receive road-safety grants from the Government. Ministers hoped this would counter critics who argued that the authorities had a financial incentive to fine motorists.

Mr Greenhalgh said the council could switch the £400,000 to measures including improved road cambers and vehicle-activated signs, which can be installed for only £5,000 each.

Last night, AA president Edmund King welcomed the council's move.

'For too long, there has been an over-reliance on cameras. They are too often seen as the first and last resort,' he said.

Vince Yearly, of the Institute of Advanced Motoring, said: 'Speed cameras have been a substitute for active policing.

'Anything which starts to win back the confidence of drivers should be applauded.'

Kevin Delaney, IAM's head of road safety, added: 'There has been too much emphasis on cameras and not enough on old-fashioned coppering.'

But local Labour MP Anne Snelgrove, who is Parliamentary Private Secretary to Transport Secretary Ruth Kelly, defended the devices.

'I want the council to drop its plans. Speed cameras really do work,' said Mrs Snelgrove, MP for South Swindon. She denied the devices were installed to raise money, saying: 'The best speed camera is the one that doesn't raise a penny, just saves lives.'

The county's partnership operates 15 fixed cameras, two red-light cameras, eight mobile vans and two motorcycles.

Nationally, around two million motorists a year receive a £60 fine from 8,000 speed cameras.

The Department for Transport said: 'Independent research has shown there are 1,745 fewer deaths and serious injuries at camera sites a year.”

Created on October 23rd 2008

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