IT’S hard to believe it’s even a possibility that speed cameras could become a thing of the past.
But that’s just what one council is seriously contemplating in the UK – and others could follow.
Thames Valley Safer Roads Partnership in Oxfordshire is thinking about switching off all 70 of its cameras which would leave them as “yellow elephants’’ in the fight against speeding.
And West Yorkshire Casualty Reduction Partnership has admitted in a worse case scenario that the same could happen here.
Opinions have long been bitterly divided over speed cameras. Do they really save lives or do they just rake in cash for the Government?
Speed cameras are only supposed to be installed where they have been fatalities and statistics suggest they have brought down the number of casualties in those areas.
But anyone who has been on the roads will know that the persistent speeders simply slow down for the cameras and then put their foot down again straight afterwards.
It is often the people who drive just a few mph above the limit who seem to get caught out as they think they are going slower than they actually are.
The sad fact is that we will only know if the speed cameras really work to save lives once they are switched off.
