PR229: Motorway road works speed cameras: legalised extortion

News: for immediate release

Following Safe Speed's revelations earlier today that motorway road works
speed cameras do nothing to improve safety, motorists will be absolutely livid
to learn that they have been fined for no safety benefit.

The TRL report stating with absolute clarity that speed cameras do NOTHING to
improve road works safety on motorways was completed over 18 months ago. The
Highways agency did not make it public and continued to slap up speed cameras
at motorway roadworks sites.

Any member of the public wishing to read the report would have had to pay £40
to do so. Not even a summary has been previously published as far as we can
tell. It took a request under the Freedom of Information Act to dig it up.

Paul Smith, founder of the Safe Speed road safety campaign
(www.safespeed.org.uk) said: "Hundreds of thousands of motorists who have been
fined for exceeding the speed limit in roadworks in the last 18 months are
going to be livid. The Highways Agency knew that cameras did nothing for
safety - all they have been doing is spreading misery and raising revenue.
These cameras are legalised extortion - no more and no less."

"This has to stop and it has to stop now. Speed cameras do nothing for safety.
The official claims are bunk. But far worse than that, those claims cause
live-saving resources to be misallocated and cause extra deaths indirectly."

"How dare they keep this information hidden for 18 months. Since the Freedom
of Information Act came into force the wheels are coming off the speed camera
bandwagon. The abuses of information are outrageous and heads must roll."

<ends>


Notes for editors:
==================

Safe Speed PR issued earlier today:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/SafeSpeedPR/message/76

Includes reference to TRL report which includes:

"The study showed that there was no significant difference in the rate of PIAs
(Personal Injury Accidents) when road works were present on the motorway."

"No significant difference was observed in the PIA rate for sites with and
without speed cameras."


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, 50, an advanced motorist and
road safety enthusiast, and a professional engineer of 25 years UK experience,
has carried out over 10,000 hours working on the campaign with well over 5,000
of those hours researching the overall effects of speed camera policy on UK
road safety. In addition to those 10,000 hours, Paul has funded to campaign to
the tune of £10,000.

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. Far from saving lives, speed cameras are a dangerous
distraction.

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.

Safe Speed is very slimly funded by voluntary contributions to the web site. We
are urgently seeking improved funding.

The Safe Speed web site contains more than 350,000 words of road safety
analysis and information. We are seeking publishers for 'the book of the web
site'.

It has turned out to be quite an amazing story and there are opportunities for
journalists and broadcasters to explore how all this came about, what it
means, and where road safety has gone so badly wrong.


Contact Safe Speed:
=================

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

Location: North Scotland

We are always available for further comment on your road safety story.

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

Recent press releases (since November 2004) are automatically and immediately
uploaded to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/SafeSpeedPR

=============================
NEW! ISDN Audio: 01862 832674
=============================