THE ASSOCIATION OF BRITISH DRIVERS

IN SCOTLAND

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A Barely "Civil" Civil Servant!! (or What I Say Goes)

Letter dated 11 November 2002...

Dear Mr Tonks
I refer to your e-mail of 18 October in response to Mrs Haggerty's letter of 16 October regarding speed cameras on the A90 trunk road.
To deal first with the whole route speed reduction strategy for the A90, the figures you request are not available on a camera-by-camera basis. The cameras were not installed at accident black-spots, as under the new scheme, but to lower speeds and accidents on the A90 in general. Since that strategy
has been successful, there is no value in carrying out the type of individual camera monitoring associated with the cameras provided under the cost recovery scheme. The figures may be of passing interest to anti-camera campaigners but they are unlikely to tell us anything of interest in terms of trying to improve road safety on the network.
Similarly, the figures for income generated by individual cameras are irrelevant so far as road safety is concerned. Under the new cost recovery scheme there may be a relatively simple mechanism for extracting the data, should it be required. For these older cameras it is not so easy. No doubt the data could be collected from several Court Administrations and the files examined to identify individual cameras but this exercise would be costly, time consuming and, in the end, of no discernible use because the purpose is not to collect revenue but to save lives.
It is not clear why you object to the use of speed cameras to improve road safety, as it is a highly effective strategy. Paying fines and fixed penalty notices is an entirely voluntary process for drivers. All they have to do to avoid payment is to comply with the speed limit. By doing so they will reduce the risk of being killed or injured in an accident.
Yours sincerely
M W CARTNEY

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