Huge jump in 'hidden' mobile speed cameras*

By David Millward, Transport Correspondent
Last Updated: 2:06pm BST 14/06/2007

The number of mobile speed camera sites has soared over the last six
years, according to figures released by the UK Government.

While drivers are left in little doubt about the presence of fixed
cameras, which are housed in bright yellow boxes, mobile devices are
harder to spot.

A near 14-fold increase in mobile sites has coincided with the
disappearance of around one in 10 specialist traffic officers, with
their ranks falling from 7,238 in 1999-2000 to 6,511 in 2005-6.
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While the number of fixed camera locations has only risen from 1,295 in
2000 in to 2,544 in 2006, the latest statistics show that the number of
mobile sites increased from 173 to 2,373 in the same period.

By contrast the growth in cameras catching motorists jumping red lights
has only risen from 464 to 600.

The Government had sought to defuse the speed camera controversy by
overhauling the safety camera system by telling partnerships that they
could only keep £110 million raised in fines – with any surplus going to
the Treasury.

It was believed that this would reduce the incentive for 35 partnerships
to plough fine income into the installation of yet more unpopular
cameras – at the expense of other road safety initiatives.

But at the same time the new regulations gave the partnerships greater
flexibility in which cameras they deployed and where they did so.

Two partnerships – North Wales and Cumbria – have said that they will
deploy mobile cameras at random. This, it is argued, would catch those
motorists who slow down at fixed sites, only to speed up once they have
passed.

The latest figures will lead to fresh attacks on the Government's entire
road safety strategy.

Critics have argued that relying on cameras while cutting police patrols
means that while motorists breaking the speed limit are caught, those
driving erratically and dangerously are missed.

The Government has justified its strategy, which is aimed at bringing
the number of people killed or seriously injured down to 40 per cent of
the 1994-8 average by 2010.

Paul Smith, who has been a ceaseless campaigner against the entire
programme predicted that other partnerships would follow suit. "This is
to keep up with targets," he said.

"The cameras have been less predictable as far as drivers are concerned.
Sometimes they are there and sometimes they are not. Police vans are
painted all sorts of different colours, making them harder to spot.

"If you need to maintain targets when drivers are wising up to fixed
cameras, then mobile cameras are the way to go."

Motorists can also "look forward" to a sharp rise in the number of
cameras which measure a motorist's speed over longer stretches of road,
judging by the trend which emerged from Government figures in a Commons
written reply.

In 2001 only one set of "time over distance" cameras existed, by 2006
the number had increased to 15.

Such cameras, which are again designed to prevent motorists from
speeding up as soon as they have passed a conventional fixed device, are
also being deployed on some roadworks.

According to a survey by one insurance company, London has borne the
brunt of the increase in speed cameras with nine in place per square mile.

Surrey, on the other hand, has only 25 cameras, monitoring motorists in
the whole county.

According to a survey of more than 2,400 motorists by Swiftcover 53
percent believed that standard speed cameras encouraged motorists to
drive more erratically – with a tendency to speed between cameras.

In addition 60 per cent said they were less focused on road hazards when
worried by the presence of cameras.

The increased mechanization of roads policing was attacked by Owen
Paterson, a Tory transport spokesman, who also attacked the Government
for cutting the number of dedicated traffic officers.

"You can't regulate 41 million motorists with machines, you need human
beings to do that.

"It is not speed alone which kills, it is inappropriate speed and only a
police officer can judge that."

However Andrew Howard, head of roads safety at the AA, said that mobile
cameras were often installed as a result of pressure from residents
concerned about the speed of traffic and number of accidents in their area.

"There has been an increase in the number of forces using cameras," he
said. "Also the threshold for the installation of mobile cameras – with
only two accidents in three years needed to justify them – has also
contributed to the increase."