40 new speed cameras for the Midlands Aug 8 2004

Cops are targeting Midland motorists in a new road safety blitz by installing FORTY new speed cameras in just six months.

The move by West Midlands Police means a near 20 per cent increase in the number of cameras – a rise which has has been attacked by motoring groups.

Up to £2.2 million will be splashed out on installing and equipping the zappers to catch drivers by March next year.

The scheme includes launching a mobile enforcement van to catch anyone who strays over the limit.

Cops also plan to set up two new high-tech cameras which can take pictures not only of number plates but also of drivers.

The extraordinary crack-down is revealed in the West Midlands Police Strategic Plan for 2004/5.

The anti-speeding push means that thousands more West Midlands motorists are likely to be hit with fixed penalty fines of £60 or more.

Drivers who fall foul of the law pay their fine to the Treasury, but every three months police forces are allowed to reclaim money spent on installing new cameras.

That means Chancellor Gordon Brown is the real winner because he gets to pocket the profits from all speeding fines.

Currently, there are 210 cameras in the West Midlands. They cost at least £12,000 to install and another £35,000 to equip ready for action.

Adam Warwick, of the West Midlands Casualty Reduction Partnership – an umbrella group bringing together the police, hospitals and magistrates courts – said: “There is a detailed checklist before any new cameras can be installed.

“At any proposed site there has to have been four crashes where people were killed or seriously injured in the last three years.

“Alongside that there has to have been at least eight crashes where people were injured.

“If those criteria are ticked, then other options, like traffic calming measures, must be considered before a camera is installed. It is a lengthy process.”

Of the 40 new cameras being fitted along West Midland roads, two are sophisticated new models designed to photograph drivers as well as their number plates.

The Truvelo camera snaps motorists from the front of their vehicle rather than the back, meaning there is no room for confusion about the identity of the driver.

Mr Warwick added: “These two are being installed on the A452 Collector Road in Soli-hull. But the other 38 will be conventional Gatso cameras which can photograph up to 400 images before the film needs to be changed.”

Last night Edmund King, chief executive of the RAC Foundation, said: “Speed cameras have their uses but often accidents happen on roads because of other factors.

“Things like side-roads, bad signposting and poor road markings all contribute. We believe the Casualty Reduction Partnership is too eager in going for speed cameras without thinking about these problems first.”

• Motorists in Warwick-shire will also be hit by an increase in speed cameras next week.

The county’s Casualty Reduction Partnership yesterday announced that nine new cameras are about to go ‘live’.

Chief Superintendent Jon Bond, Chairman of the Part-nership, said: “I’m hoping that these cameras will be entirely successful in encour-aging motorists to drive within the speed limit.”

Best Regards
Stuart XV16