Speed cameras rake in £65m fixed penalty fines a year
Fixed penalty fines raised by speed camera operators net more than £65 million a year, according to shock figures released yesterday.
The eye-watering amounts have been revealed in a joint report published by the TaxPayers' Alliance and the Drivers' Alliance.
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Speed camera
The report also stated if the fixed penalty notice figure is added to court fines collected from speeding and red light offences, the total annual speeding fines income stands at a staggering £87.3m nationally.
In the regional breakdown, drivers in Avon and Somerset faced the heaviest toll with speed camera fines worth £3.49m incurred last year – the second highest rate in the country behind the Metropolitan Police.
The huge amounts have been criticised by TaxPayers' Alliance chief executive Matthew Elliott, who praised Swindon in Wiltshire for abolishing the cameras altogether. Swindon Borough Council made the move in July 2009 to deactivate its five permanent cameras and cover them with orange bags marked "not in use".
Mr Elliott said: "Motorists have long suspected that speed cameras are more about raising money than keeping the roads safe.
"These findings show that the state has been squeezing a fortune out of people using these cameras, but if anything the rate of reduction in casualty numbers has slowed. The whole country should follow the example of Swindon, which has scrapped cameras altogether."
The figures showed a total of £87,368,227 was collected in fines for speeding and red light offences caught on speed cameras in the financial period 2008-09 in the UK.
This includes fines from magistrates' courts for speeding offences and neglect of traffic directions, such as lane offences, in 2008.
Peter Roberts, chief executive of the Drivers' Alliance, said: "Speed cameras have been a false hope in improving safety on British roads.
"Close statistical analysis of road casualties shows that, since speed cameras have been the main driver of road safety policy, the road casualty rate has not gone down at the trajectory expected.
"It is time to rethink road safety policy so that it has broadened focus, not solely based on speed. No more speed cameras should be funded by local authorities and existing speed cameras should be removed."
Last month, it was confirmed that a third of Somerset's speed cameras are to be removed because speeds and casualties have fallen.
Nine of the 26 fixed roadside cameras in the county are being taken down including those on A370 at East Brent, south of Weston-super-Mare, on the A361 at East Lyng, near Taunton, and the device on the A358 at Creech Castle, Taunton.
2 Comments
by Lucy, MSN
Friday, July 09 2010, 4:04PM
“But Joe, if noone speeded, then the cameras wouldn't make money.......”
by Joe, Bristol
Friday, July 09 2010, 1:54PM
“And we are meant to believe this scam is non-profit and designed only to make roads safer!
I'll grant that there may be no share holders that the profit goes to, but there will be a lot of happy managers lining their pockets with a big fat slice of these revenue generating cameras.
It's no different to any business - no money coming in, business closes. So it's in their interest to find new and interesting place to catch people out.
Wherever a camera is not generating money - and so it can be argued has brought down the speed of traffic, they take it away to erect it some place more profitable.
It does not take a genius to figure out that the traffic will then speed up again. So if the true reason is to keep traffic speed down, the camera would stay but.
But as their real use is to raise money, they have to be, and are, moved on.”