Speed traps failing to cut accidents – Blackpool

BLACKPOOL’S speed cameras are failing to cut the number of accidents, a damning report has said.

Crash figures at 11 of the resort’s 50 camera sites have risen in the last 12 months and most cameras are in areas where speeding is not a problem.
That is the conclusion of a report into the roadside traps which claims safety chiefs have been “selective” in deciding which Government guidelines to follow when deciding their location.
Coun Mary Smith, who helped compile the report, said: “We have to be honest and some people are not going to like it. The number of accidents at some speed cameras has risen ? and that is fact.”
The report, drafted following an in-depth scrutiny of camera locations in Blackpool by a council committee, calls for a review of all fixed camera sites in Blackpool.
Coun Smith, chairman of the committee, said: “We promised an open and transparent scrutiny and that is what we have done. We can only make recommendations ? we cannot force the powers-that-be to make changes but they have to contend with public opinion.
“Where the number of accidents have risen, I don’t think we can make them take the cameras out ? and I don’t think they have any intention to do so ? but there are other
options.
“A lot of the accidents are caused by carelessness. Many of them have nothing to do with speed.”
The report was commissioned by the council after Blackpool was dubbed the speed camera capital of Lancashire because it has more Gatsos than the county rest of the country.
The initial findings of the review will be reported to councillors and the public for the next week.
The report says:
? Speed cameras are in locations where there is a history of accidents ? but the vast
majority of those were NOT speed-related
? There has been a reduction in the number of casualties but there is NO hard evidence to link this reduction to the introduction of speed cameras
? More “credible” and “user friendly” ways of tackling speed should be used such as vehicle-activated signs.
A copy of the report, which also confirms the council’s belief that cameras are not used as revenue generating devices, has been passed to John Davies, project manager of the Lancashire Partnership for Road Safety.
He said:”There has been a reduction in the number of casualties in Blackpool and this is down to a number of road safety measures we have put into place over the last few years.
“We have never claimed cameras are the sole reason for this reduction, but they do play a part in changing driver behaviour.”
12 November 2004

See: https://www.blackpooltoday.co.uk/ViewArticle2.aspx?SectionID=62&ArticleID=887624

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