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Tory proposals re-open speed camera debate

The debate about the efficacy of speed cameras in road safety was brought under the spotlight again last month when shadow transport minister Theresa Villiers announced that if the Conservatives were to get into power, they would halt expansion of the technology.

Ms Villiers revealed the plans in a speech at the Tory party conference, in which she outlined various proposals for improving road safety and reducing congestion.

She announced that a Conservative government would not fund any new fixed speed cameras, saying they are not the best way to make Britain's roads safer.

"I believe that fixed speed cameras have reached their high watermark in this country," she said.

"It's time to say, 'enough is enough'," Ms Villiers added.

Under the current Labour government, the number of fixed cameras has trebled.

"The truth is the fines they generate are blinding Labour to the proven merits of other better ways to keep our roads safe, like education, like vehicle-activated signs, like traffic police," she stated.

Ms Villiers said that under the Conservatives, information on each speed camera's record on safety and fines would be published so that local communities could judge whether it is worth keeping.

Councils across Britain would only be able to introduce new devices if there was no other way to tackle excessive speed.

"If local authorities want new cameras they'll have to prove nothing else works better and they'll have to find the money themselves," she explained.

As well as halting speed camera programmes, Ms Villiers also announced that a Conservative government would decentralise decision-making power when it comes to transport policy.

"So when local authorities want to innovate and try out new ways to make traffic flow more smoothly they'll get encouragement from Whitehall," she explained.

Ms Villiers promised more transparency saying that information on new traffic lights and motorway clear-up times would be made available to the public.

She also pledged to improve accountability, explaining that companies behind roadworks would be held to account. There would be bigger fines for work that overruns and utilities would pay to rent the areas they dig up on the busiest roads.

"They [would] finally have a real incentive to run their work efficiently and minimise the disruption that can impact on all road users: drivers, pedestrians and cyclists alike," she said.

Cowboy clampers were also covered in Ms Villiers' speech.

"I have a simple message for the rogue operators who use intimidation to extort huge fines from hapless drivers: a Conservative government would put the cowboy clampers out of business," she announced.

The announcements were met with a mixture of approbation and displeasure from motoring and road safety groups.

Mary Williams, spokesperson for charity Brake, insisted that speed cameras were an important part of improving road safety.

"Speed cameras are proven to cut speeds, reduce the number of crashes and reduce casualties," she said.

The AA concurred. "We are slightly concerned," said Edmund King, president of the group.

"Road deaths have been falling year on year since fixed speed cameras were introduced and 70 per cent of our members support them," he commented.

However, Claire Armstrong, representative for campaign group Safe Speed, welcomed the Conservatives' proposals.

"We believe that this might be the beginning of a more sensible and intelligent road safety returning to the roads of the UK," she said.

Safe Speed has previously run a petition against cameras on the Number 10 website which was signed by over 28,000 people.

The Association of British Drivers (ABD) also welcomed the plans, saying greater transparency was particularly pleasing.

"For too long, badly thought-out policies have obstructed our roads and penalised safe driving, and the mandarins in both town halls and Whitehall have been able to fob off legitimate objections by keeping the data they have collected under wraps," said Nigel Humphries, spokesperson for the ABD.

The group described speed cameras as a "scourge" on the road network. It said that rather than improving road safety, they have made things worse by reducing the number of police patrols, undermining the ability of drivers to judge speed for themselves and distorting the perception of how speed and safety relate.

Transport secretary Lord Adonis called the Conservatives' plans a "total muddle".

He told the Evening Standard: "Today's policy announcement by Theresa Villiers is flatly contradicted by Boris Johnson's Transport for London, which only a month ago wrote to me calling for continued ring-fenced government funding for speed cameras."

"So, Boris is saying one thing, Theresa is saying the opposite and Tory policy on road safety is an incoherent mess," he added.

"The Tory policy on speed cameras is now a total muddle and mystery," he continued.

A spokesperson for Transport for London, told the newspaper: "We have applied for money to pay for the existing network, not to install further cameras."

As for motor insurance companies, they believe speed cameras are worthwhile. A recent survey of firms in Ireland found that 76 per cent of respondents believed that claims costs would be reduced if speed cameras were widely introduced across the country.

Glenn Pillard, a partner in Deloitte's financial services division, said that car insurance providers would usually be forced to pass on the rising cost of claims to their customers.

"Motor insurance has been one of the most competitively priced financial products available in recent years leaving little room for companies to absorb additional costs," he explained.

"While companies need to continue to focus on internal costs, the greatest potential impact on price will be as a result of stricter enforcement of speeding and drink driving laws and a crack down on an emerging fraudulent claim culture," he added.

Motor insurance companies would perhaps welcome the reported introduction of "supertrap" cameras.

Auto Express claimed that its sister publication, Auto Plus had uncovered plans for the French government to introduce new hi-tech cameras that do not flash and are disguised as steel poles.

It said that the new devices could be introduced in France within a year and the UK could soon follow suit.

21 Dec 2009