Britain’s motorists driven to despair by speed cameras

The £114 million raised each year by speed cameras is being wasted, according to a survey of British motorists from swiftcover.com, the online insurer.

There are now 4,403 speed cameras in operation, and over 2.2 million speeding convictions handed out each year. The number of convictions has more than trebled (328%) in ten years, yet in the same time frame, traffic levels increased by only 17%.

In 2000, 8 local road safety partnerships (usually local authorities or police regions) installed speed cameras which could be used to issue penalties for speeding offences. By 2004, 35 local road safety partnerships had been set up for this purpose.

The proliferation of speed cameras on the nation’s roads is directly against the wishes of the nation’s motorists. Speed cameras come way down a list of the nation’s preferred methods to reduce speeding, with just one in eight (13%) believing they are the safest way to reduce speeding and only one in twenty (6%) thinking the current system, whereby the money generated by cameras is used to fund more, is an effective use of the funds.

As revealed by swiftcover.com and Datamonitor in their report ‘Speed cameras and speeding drivers’, speed cameras currently derive at least £114 million in revenue every year. However, instead of using the revenue to build and position more speed cameras on our roads, a third (32%) of people think the money raised could be better used to fund the emergency services whilst 28% cited charitable road safety initiatives. Almost half (44%) believe that speed cameras should not be used to generate money at all.

Speed cameras are also deemed ineffective as a means to improve road safety. Please see below for Britain’s top ten road safety initiatives in (descending) order of their perceived effectiveness. Even the reviled speed bump is favoured over speed cameras as a way to get Britain’s motorists to slow down!

1. Speed activated flashing warning signs that warn drivers when they’re exceeding the speed limit
2. Variable speed limits
3. Traffic calming measures e.g. speed bumps or chevrons
4. ‘Keep your distance’ chevrons
5. Driver education schemes e.g. speeding advertisements
6. Advanced driver training – after the L test
7. In car speed warning systems
8. Drivers obeying the two second rule
9. A ‘speed spy’ device – satellite system in the car that applies the breaks when above the speed limit
10. Speed cameras

At its simplest, Britain’s motorists believe that speed cameras do nothing to improve road safety. Over half (54%) think that they encourage people to drive more erratically, and almost three quarters (71%) think that speed cameras make motorists less aware of hazards on the road, increasing their risk of causing accidents whilst their attention is diverted.

Andrew Blowers, Chief Executive of swiftcover.com comments: “It is clear from our research that speed cameras have emerged as the scourge of the 21st century motorist. People are fed up with the imposition of speed cameras on every corner but, more importantly, believe that they are failing to fulfil their key objective of improving road safety.”

“Equally, motorists feel that the huge amount of revenue generated from these cameras – estimated at £114million each year – could be put to far better use than simply paying for more and more cameras.”

“Britain’s drivers are not only frustrated by the ineffective use of the cameras - many are hit in the pocket with a fine for speeding, and could face increased insurance premiums, when they believed that they were driving safely for the prevailing conditions at the time

”Our experience shows that drivers with one speeding conviction are just as safe as those with none, so swiftcover.com does not charge extra for those unfortunate enough to have been caught by a speed camera just once”