£108,000 a month from a single camera!!!
***IMPORTANT***
***IMPORTANT***
I have been contacted by someone who has received a NIP from the Speed on Green
and would like to challenge it. If the costs could be shared by a few hundred
(thousand??) people, perhaps for a couple of quid each, a proper investigation
and case may be able to be made, if this could succeed, it would be a fantastic
victory for us against this nonsense, and could open the floodgates for others.
Could anyone who would like to take part please contact me at
info@dorsetspeed.org.uk.
Cheers, Ian
***IMPORTANT***
***IMPORTANT***
We now have an indication of how much money is being raised by the “speed on
green” cameras at Holes Bay, Poole. This has only been possible after complaint
by DorsetSpeed to the Information Commissioner, as the DSCP wanted to keep this
information secret – another indication of how this sick organisation wants to
hide deliberate money making activities and seems incapable of using results to
demonstrate value, purpose or success.
It’s easy to say that the limit is the law and if you break the law you should
be punished, but the overall inevitable outcome of limits and enforcements like
this, treating good, safe, responsible drivers like naughty children, while
ignoring the truly dangerous and antisocial drivers who cause the carnage on our
roads and are the most practiced at avoiding these ridiculous enforcements, is
not something that any civilised society or those who shape it should be
comfortable with or allow to continue any longer.
Although the cameras were installed in the summer of 2009, the prosecution
process did not start until the 22nd November. The NIPS released
count runs to the end of the financial year, which is 31st March,
2010. The NIP count for this 4.1 month period is 7.373, resulting in fines
totalling £108,000 a month approximately. If this rate continues for the year
(and it may do with unfamiliar summer visitors) a staggering £1.3 million will
be collected. Strangely, this count is for Southbound only, the Northbound count
being given as 0. I’ve asked for clarification of this figure and will send an
update when I get a response. Even so, this count dwarfs
the counts of most other cameras, further evidence that something is seriously
wrong here.
For an operation designed to criminalize driving highly likely to be totally
safe, this is a complete disgrace. The money disappears into government black
holes and does little more than keep these much hated, pointless, damaging
organisations running. And they say they can’t afford proper road policing!
This operation is a prime example of over-enforcement of limits too low as:
-since 1999 (when DCSP figures start) there have been no fatal injuries, only 1
serious injury in 2008 when the 30 limit and red light camera were well
established, and only 2 or 3 slight each year. It is difficult to see any trend
with such low counts but there does not seem to be any reduction when the red
light camera was introduced, or when the 30 limit was extended through the
junction a few years ago.
-the 30 limit is completely inappropriate (too low) for the road type (a wide
open dual carriageway with little pedestrian or residential activity) and is
wildly inconsistent with other roads / junctions in the area, such as the
junction near PC World which has a 50 limit, greater pedestrian activity and
less well designed for pedestrians. There is clearly no justification whatsoever
for such a low speed limit or extreme enforcement on Holes Bay.
Even if speed was the only cause of accidents and strict enforcement likely to
result in 100% improvement (impossible), the reduction of a couple of slight
injuries a year would not balance well with the anger this operation has raised
and the damage done to respect of the police, the law, speed limits and other
road safety efforts. It is a balance, no one can seriously aim for zero
accidents while we have large numbers of big metal things moving around with
people in them at any speed. No one wants the total elimination of all risk by
only lowering speed limits and completely ignoring accident causes – we will end
up with 5 MPH limits on all roads under the current thinking (if that’s what it
is). The councils introducing these limits that don’t stand a chance of being
taken seriously and not based on any logic or reality are just as much to blame.
Although this particular operation is clearly an attempt to rake in some cash in
the remaining time that the DSCP can get away with it in the dying days of fixed
speed cameras, it is sadly an indication of the incompetence and questionable
objectives of all camera partnerships and government policy. The organisations
and individuals who have created this rotten culture must be shut down and
removed as soon as possible, and some “common sense” methods put in place to
target the real problems that are blindingly obvious to any intelligent
observer, to improve road safety and almost as importantly, efficiencies. Then
there will be some financial benefit, but to the emergency services in the form
of lower accident costs, and to local businesses and individuals who might
actually be able to get from A to B in a reasonable amount of time, rather than
the job security and pensions of a few jobsworths.