SPEED CAMERAS

Preventing accidents or infuriating inconvenience?

Speed cameras are designed to save lives but for some drivers they're infuriating and unnecessary. So how do we balance acceptable speed limits and safety needs?

Speed kills, but some drivers dislike the presence of speed cameras so strongly that, in some cases, they have broken the law by vandalising them.

But now some drivers are taking revenge on speed cameras.
In 2003 dozens have been vandalised; sawn down, set alight and even shot at.

More and more drivers are being caught on camera, adding to the rogues gallery of speed trap photographs.

Goodbye To Speed

This speed camera has been vandalised like the one disabled by Martin

Martin O'Callaghan loves the serene lifestyle of living on the canals.

The top speed that he reaches nowadays on his narrow boat is 4 mph.

His 'go faster' days are behind him since the night he borrowed his work's van without permission and fell victim to a camera on the A5 near Nuneaton.

In the early hours one morning Martin returned to the scene to destroy the evidence.

When the police caught Martin in the act, they were not amused. Martin suffered a large fine and more than 100 hours community service. He could have gone to jail!

Speed Versus Safety

Supporters of speed cameras say reducing deaths on our roads is what their campaign's all about.

Speed cameras can cut serious accidents by 35%

All the statistics seem to show that where cameras have been put in place, the numbers killed and injured have fallen by 35%.

To some, speed cameras will always be the scourge of our roads.

Inside Out met James Bancroft who has set up a website to campaign against them. The site even includes a section celebrating their destruction.

But not everyone approves of his guerilla tactics - least of all the mother of a young boy killed on Nottinghamshire's roads.

Speed Kills

Christopher Marlow, 12, was killed crossing the A610 in Nottinghamshire. The driver was doing 44 mph in a 30 mph limit.

Sabine Marlow is disgusted by the websites which locate speed cameras

Christopher's mother, Sabine Marlow, was surprised and disgusted by those publishing websites which try to reduce the effectiveness of speed cameras.

"These people are playing with death," says Sabine Marlow who lost her son on the Nuthall Road which leads from the M1 in to Nottingham.

The road has seen a big reduction in speed levels in the two years since cameras were installed.

There have been no fatalities from speed-related accidents. There's also been a 40% reduction in those seriously injured and a 30% reduction in slight casualties.

Safe Not Sorry

Sabine Marlow now visits schools in Nottingham and talks to children about road safety and speed.

She's keen to get children to encourage their parents to slow down.

Advocates of speed cameras also point to the money that they raise in fines.

Since speed cameras were installed, £6 million has been raised in Nottinghamshire.

All the money is ploughed back into the road safety… and more cameras.

Speed and Technology

Technology is increasingly playing its part in the battle between the pro and anti-speed lobbies.

Sophisticated radar cameras on the A610 in the East Midlands don't need film. These digital cameras track cars as they go through a two mile stretch.

It's a 30 mph limit and if you speed, you always get caught.

On the other side of the equation, dodging speed cameras has become big business.

Those trying to avoid the speed trap will go to great lengths to avoid detection.

One company is making a device which warns drivers when they're approaching a camera.

Avoiding the cameras is possible, but there are legal and illegal ways of doing it.

The question is, why avoid the cameras?

To make your driving safer? Or so you can speed with impunity?

For those who have lost loved ones to speeding, there's no question that the need to speed is unimportant compared with the importance of safe roads.

The debate is set to rage on... let Inside Out know your views
on speed cameras using the comment form below.