The Law Blog

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Thames Valley Police has announced that preparations are being made to reactivate a battery of speed cameras across Oxfordshire, in a bid to curb rising road traffic accident casualties.

In total, the force intends to turn on 72 fixed and 89 mobile speed cameras that have been left idle for nine months. Last year, on the 1st August, Oxfordshire County Council made headlines by announcing that it would withdraw funding for road safety operations, prompting the 161 cameras to be deactivated.

The issue of speed cameras is one that attracts a considerable amount of debate, with opinion divided on whether the devices are beneficial to the public. On the one hand, many motorists would argue that speed cameras constitute an unnecessary distraction that give rise to a stealth road tax. On the other, road safety campaigners would contend that there is a correlation between reducing speed and saving lives.

Of course, nobody is likely to enjoy receiving a fine for speeding, especially in today’s turbulent economy. However, does the fact that speed cameras generate income for local authorities preclude them being of benefit to the public? The answer is obvious: speed cameras are worth every penny if they help to save lives on roads across the country.

Despite electing to turn off the cameras last year after the Government withdrew central funding, Oxfordshire County Council has appeared to change its position on the issue by reactivating the devices as of the 1st April 2011. The decision may result in fewer accident claims being made on roads across the county.

Head of roads policing for Thames Valley, Superintendent Rob Povey, said: “We think this is important because we know that speed kills and speed is dangerous. We have shown in Oxfordshire that speed has increased through monitoring limits and we have noticed an increase in fatalities and the number of people seriously injured in 2010. We know that speed enforcement does work as a deterrent to motorists.”

Commenting on the decision to reactivate the speed cameras, Professor Stephen Glaister, director of the RAC Foundation, said: “Speed cameras are controversial, but work done for us suggests that nationally each year they save 800 people from being killed or seriously injured. Today’s decision will be welcomed by the majority of drivers who back their use. Speed cameras are certainly not the only way of saving life on the roads, but Oxfordshire County Council has recognised they are part of it.”