Thames Valley, United Kingdom
Essex, United Kingdom
Northants, United Kingdom
South Wales, United Kingdom
Nottingham, United Kingdom
Lincolnshire, United Kingdom
Cleveland, United Kingdom
Strathclyde, United Kingdom
Department for Transport: A cost recovery system for speed and red-light cameras - two year pilot evaluation
Summary Information
This independent report encapsulated the results of a two year pilot study designed to evaluate safety impacts and customer satisfaction associated with increased deployment of automated speed cameras and red-light cameras in Great Britain. The objective was to measure impacts on vehicle speeds, casualties, and injuries in each city and compare statistics between camera sites, adjacent areas, and the long term trends nationwide. The pilot test was conducted from April 2000 to March 2002 and included 599 sites in eight regions (Cleveland, Essex, Lincolnshire, Northamptonshire (Northants), Nottingham, South Wales, Strathclyde and Thames Valley).
The following technologies were deployed:
Speed Enforcement – Fixed mount cameras were installed on roadways (1 km sections) where accidents occurred most often, and machine vision speed cameras were installed on high speed urban roadways where vehicle speeds could be determined from greater distances. In addition, portable (mobile) speed camera systems were set up on longer sections of roadway where accident frequency was less clustered. The portable system; however, required police to be on site during the monitoring to collect video or wet film evidence.
Red-light Enforcement – These fixed mount cameras were installed to collect images of vehicles running red lights. The evaluation of the red light cameras was limited due to the small number of sites available.
Fifteen (15) months after the pilot project began, 2000 people from across the country were surveyed. The following results were presented in the report:
- Seventy (70) percent of people thought that well placed cameras were a useful way of reducing accidents and saving lives.
- Only 21 percent of people thought that speed cameras were an infringement of civil liberties.
- Sixteen (16) percent thought speed cameras were a waste of time and money.
- Eighty-nine (89) percent said that cameras made them think more carefully about how fast they were driving.
- Seventy-two (72) percent thought that speeding in a 30 mph limit was a very serious offense.