My letter below was published 2 weeks ago in a local paper. I fully expected the police to come back and try to rubbish my claims but they have kept quiet. Proof indeed that they are telling porkies.
I was a tad concerned because they published it under a picture of Chief Brunstrom, the Gatso king, with the heading:
" Stop exposing us to camera lies"
I thought "Ooops, he will get me for that" even though I did not write it.
Begins.....
Dear Editor,
According to the Transport Research Laboratory, North Wales Police told them that excessive speed was factor in just 8.3% of Welsh accidents, yet it seems that not a month goes by without them now telling us that speed cameras save lives and "33% of accidents are caused by excess speed".
Between 1999 and 2000, trials of speed cameras, (Gatsos) in eight areas found three of the areas with increases in fatalities of up to 18%. Why were we not told of that? The study?s claim that, ?Gatsos save lives? have been dismissed as ?naughty? by statisticians from Cardiff University. Having looked at the results they said, ?To attribute any reduction to speed cameras is not justifiable?
What do we find, one year later? Suffolk, an area which announced a crackdown on speed-limit offences in January 2001 ? just as police and politicians advocate - has seen an increase in fatalities of 73%. Lincolnshire had an increase of 19% and Essex had a 43% increase. Astonishingly, Essex police still say Gatsos are effective because there has been a reduction in people with serious injuries. Could that be because some of them are now dead?
104 Gatsos in Essex now generate over £7 million per year; £4.7 million of which will go to the Exchequer and yet prosecutions for careless or dangerous driving are lower.
The International Road Traffic Accident Database shows clearly that UK has the safest roads in the world, both by miles travelled and by head of population, yet still the UK driver is hounded. More people are killed in accidents in their own homes than on the roads, (ROSPA figures). If the reason for the Gatso blitz is to save lives, why is nothing done about home accidents? Revenue, perhaps?
I wonder if tourists are put off coming to Wales in case they get points on their license for harming no-one.
There is a huge difference between breaking a poorly set limit in safe circumstances and excessive speed for the conditions. Gatsos do not detect the latter.
Yours faithfully,
Alwyn Davies
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Well done Alwyn!
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Hear, hear! I seem to remember that the TRRL reported that excessive speed was a factor in only 4% of accidents - also that 50% of accidents occurred below 30mph anyway.
Apart from the money angle, I'm certain that speed is the favourite offence because it's one of the few aspects of motoring that can readily be measured. Magistrates tend not to query a machine that says you were doing 46.78mph, even though it's unlikely to be anything like that accurate.
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Further to this subject, you may have read recently in the national press that according to an AA report the A12 between Romford Essex and the M25 is the second most dangerous stretch of road in the UK. What was not mentioned was that this stretch of approximately 2-3 miles has at least four speed cameras and eight traffic light cameras. Is there a connection or just coincidence, ether way they don't seem to 'save lives'.
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