Fined drivers ‘pay’ for TV safety advert

Fined drivers ‘pay’ for TV safety advert

Speeding motorists have helped to pay for a new TV advert being aired tonight to encourage drivers to slow down.

An undisclosed sum from fine money brought into Norfolk’s Safety Camera Partnership was pooled with cash from similar organisations in the region to pay for it.

The 30-second advert, which shows a motorist slowing down near children playing football and avoiding a collision, is to be shown after Coronation Street on ITV1 Anglia, just before 9pm.

Norfolk partnership spokesman Bryan Edwards said: “Our only aim is to put a stop to the carnage on our roads and the associated heartache that thousands of families every year are forced to deal with. An average of 10 people are killed on the UK’s roads every day.

“Just a couple of miles an hour can make all the difference to whether you are able to stop in time to prevent a collision – and if you can’t stop, your speed will determine the extent of the injuries you inflict. By slowing down you’ll have more time to react, so you’ll be a safer driver.

“Safety cameras aren’t there to catch you out. They just want you to slow down.”

But anti-speed-camera cam-paigners hit out at the advert.

Nigel Humphries, of the Association of British Drivers, told the EDP: “There is an awful lot of people caught breaking speed limits and the vast majority do not believe there is any safety justification for the prosecution.

“I think this will do more harm than good. People are beginning to see through the propaganda because so many are being caught.

“The fact that they have funded a television advert shows just how much money they are making because even if they have done deals, it doesn’t come cheap.

“Cameras can do some good but it is limited and they are using them as a panacea for all road-safety issues.”

Nearly 40,000 motorists were caught on speed cameras in Norfolk in 2003. Money raised from fines is used to pay for the partnership, with any surplus going to the Treasury.

Last year, the EDP reported a three-year study of safety-camera partnerships nationwide placed Norfolk as the third-best performer out of 24 across the country, with a 56pc reduction in casualties at safety-camera sites.

A spokeswoman from the county’s partnership denied cameras were being used as a way of making money.

“It is about reducing casualties and we have very strict guidelines we have to follow about where we can put them. There are a lot of people who think it is about generating revenue and there will always be people who think that, but that is not our message. We have to get across that we are not trying to catch people out.”

The partnership, which includes police and local authorities, is focused on reducing road casualties by encouraging greater compliance with speed limits.

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