Via The Boiling Frog, I am reminded that Swindon scrapped its safety cash cow cameras three years ago. Doesn’t time fly, eh? And at the time we were given dire warnings by those who opposed the move. Naturally, they were right and Swindonians are clambering over the bodies of the dead, piled high and rotting, so numerous are they.
A Wiltshire town that decided to get rid of its speed cameras has the safest roads in Britain, a report has revealed.
Swindon, which scrapped its speed cameras in July 2009 to save on council costs and trial other traffic calming measures, has just two accidents per thousand registered vehicles on its roads – the lowest rate in the UK.
Well, we didn’t expect that one, did we? Well, I did, but then I’m a genius like that…
Now all we have to do is remove all that road furniture and bring in more shared space.
Thanks for the link Longrider, much appreciated
Anytime.
That’s all ok but what about all those unemployed snoopers?
My heart bleeds. Is that not enough?
I see the troll has returned in Ranty disguise.
Please ignore him. I will delete as soon as I see it.
What troll?!
I’ve got a comment reportedly from you Longrider that says something like “i’m sorry to inform you that you contributions are not welcome anymore” Have presumed it’s spam and deleted
Yup, DoubleDickhead our resident troll.
I wonder what lying weaselling peurile irrelevant excuses “they” will try to come up with that “prove” these statistics wrong/irrelevant.
Any guesses?
Oh, I don’t doubt they will try. After all, we don’t want the facts to get in the way of a cash cow, do we?
Swindon township authorities should advertise their move to a couple of cities in Germany. Seems like the speed tickets over here are already accounted for and built into their budget…
Patty D. (spending some time in Germany)
I thought I’d have a trawl for news stories from the time of the abolition. Here are a couple of quotes:
“But a spokesman for RoSPA (Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents) warned today they would be “monitoring the results” to see if any fatalities occurred on Swindon roads where cameras once stood.”
http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/67507/Town-axes-all-its-speed-cameras-
“But Labour MP Anne Snelgrove, parliamentary private secretary to Transport Secretary Ruth Kelly, has accused council leaders of playing “politics with lives” and is calling on the council to drop the plans.
The MP for South Swindon said the removal of the cameras could see road accidents and deaths rise and has launched a Hands off Our Speed Cameras campaign: A spokesman for the Department of Transport said the funding decision was a local matter for Swindon, but added: “Safety cameras are there to save lives not to make money.
“There are 1,475 fewer deaths and serious injuries at camera sites each year.”
http://www.thisiswiltshire.co.uk/news/2395551.swindon_council_moving_towards_abolition_of_speed_cameras/
I think there IS a place for cameras – but not “speed” ones.
Traffic light cameras are a much better idea.
The former distract drivers, who slow down, speed up, and swerve, the latter SHOULD be irrelevant, because you should be watching and obeying the lights anyway!
I’ve had to jump for it, many times, in London, because some moron thinks red means “go” – and wants to get to the next traffic-jam 20 seconds earlier.