PR207: London folly - speed camera operations descend into chaos

News: for immediate release

The London Evening Standard today reports that £330,000 in speed camera fines
must be refunded. Apparently one of the cameras was installed in the wrong
place.

Paul Smith, founder of the Safe Speed road safety campaign
(www.safespeed.org.uk) said: "This is sheer incompetence. The inconvenience
and the waste of public money is astronomical. With errors being exposed in
speed camera prosecutions all over the country, every motorist who receives
the dreaded notice must question every detail BEFORE he submits the £60 pound
fine."

"Some of those wrongly convicted in London will have lost their jobs because
of a so-called offence they did not commit. They must be compensated
properly with public funds. It will be expensive and heads must roll at
Transport for London."

"After £700 million pounds in speed camera fines Britain's road have not got
safer. We won't get back on the right road safety track until speed cameras
are consigned to the history books. It is now crystal clear that they do not
improve road safety so it's only a matter of time. How much longer do we have
to wait before the authorities confess that it was all a massive blunder?"

<ends>

Notes for editors:

Article in the London Evening Standard:

http://www.thisislondon.com/news/londonnews/articles/19495073?source=Evening%20S\
tandard



About Safe Speed
================

The Safe Speed road safety campaign is primarily the work of engineer-turned
road safety analyst Paul Smith.

Since setting up Safe Speed in 2001, Paul Smith, 49, an advanced motorist and
road safety enthusiast, and a professional engineer of 25 years UK experience,
has carried out over
8,000 hours of research into the overall effects of speed camera policy on UK
road safety. We believe that this is more work in more detail than anything
carried out by any other
organisation. Paul's surprising conclusion is that overall speed cameras make
our roads more dangerous. Paul has identified and reported a number of major
flaws and false
assumptions in the claims made for speed cameras, and the whole "speed kills"
system of road safety.

The inescapable conclusion is that we should urgently return to the excellent
road safety policies that gave us in the UK the safest roads in the World in the
first place.

Safe Speed does not campaign against speed limits or appropriate enforcement of
motoring laws, but argues vigorously that automated speed enforcement is neither
safe nor
appropriate.


Contact Safe Speed:
=================
description: Safe Speed road safety campaign
web: http://www.safespeed.org.uk
email: psmith@...
telephone: 01862 832000 24 hours.
mobile: 07799 045553
ISDN Audio: 01862 832674 (apt-x100 only)
note: the mobile does not work well at our office. Always try land line first.
Location: North Scotland

We are available for further comment.

To be added to our PR distribution list send an email to psmith@...
or visit our press pages at: http://www.safespeed.org.uk/prindex.html

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NEW! ISDN Audio: 01862 832674
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