U-turn on Coventry speed cameras switch-off decision

[dutchman]

There’s been a U-turn on the decision to turn off every speed camera in Coventry in April.



In February, West Midlands Police said all 304 speed cameras in the region are set to be turned off to save cash because Coventry’s council and six other local authorities had withdrawn funding for them.

However, they’ve now reallocated £1 million of their own money to keep around a third – 100 – of the cameras running for another 12 months.

Inspector Mick Hartill manages the cameras for the West Midlands force and had said if they were turned off, more people would die on the roads:

“From the local transport plan, it clearly says cameras have had an affect and over 400 people have been saved from injury as a result of camera’s being there.”

However, Coventry’s own road safety team claim there may be better ways of using money differently to invest in speed reduction.

John McNicholas from the team said: “We could bring in speed-activated cameras, which would tell you the speed you’re travelling at – having the same effect as a regular safety camera.”

“I’ll be making recommendations that we look at all the different ways of tackling speeding, and using the best tools in the box.”

In January, a survey revealed only 17% of cameras in the West Midlands were operational at any one time.