Motorists pay £2.9m in speed camera fines

Speed camera

Speeding drivers paid £87.3 million in fines in 2008-9 despite the number of road deaths failing to fall as predicted.

A new report by the TaxPayers’ Alliance and the Drivers’ Alliance has published the revenue raised by speed cameras and fines imposed by the courts for the first time.

Speed cameras in Greater Manchester generated £2,876,280 — the fourth highest total in the country after London, Avon and Somerset and Mid and South Wales.

With the boom in speed cameras and speeding fines in recent years the issue has become highly controversial among motorists.

The two pressure groups also published figures they claim showed that road casualty numbers have declined at a slower rate since speed cameras were introduced in the early 1990s compared with the rate before then.

This has led to over 1.5 million more casualties on British roads between 1991 and 2007 than would have occurred if the previous rate of reduction had been sustained.

The report concludes that British policy should follow Swindon, which scrapped speed cameras in 2008.

Matthew Elliott, chief executive of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said: “Motorists have long suspected that speed cameras are more about raising money than keeping the roads safe. These findings show that the state has been squeezing a fortune out of people using these cameras, but if anything the rate of reduction in casualty numbers has slowed.

“The country should follow Swindon which has scrapped cameras altogether. People are sick of being fined under the guise of road safety.”

Peter Roberts, Chief Executive of the Drivers’ Alliance, added: “Speed cameras have been a false hope in improving safety on British roads. It is time to rethink road safety policy so that it has broadened focus not solely based on speed. No more speed cameras should be funded by local authorities and existing speed cameras should be removed.”