In 1997, Dft figures show that the Thames Valley police force area recorded 150 fatal accidents and 959 serious injuries on its roads.
After taking part in the original pilot, Thames Valley Police formed a safety camera partnership in April 2000** and joined the Safety Camera Funding Scheme.
The area now has over 300 speed cameras (and rising) plus mobile units.
At the beginning of 2003, the year-ending 2002 RTA statistics were released for the Thames Valley area by the DfT. There were 157 fatalities and 1379 serious injuries.
A few months later, quarterly results were released for the 12 month period to March 2003 (again by the DfT). The statistics for fatalities and serious injuries had been combined to give a new 'KSI' figure ('killed or seriously injured') and the figure was 1677.
So, in summary - in their own (new) terms:
1997 - KSI = 1129
2002 - KSI = 1536
3/2002 to 3/2003 - KSI = 1677
Here is an extract from a press release (dated 12th Feb 2003) from the Thames Valley Safer Roads Partnership:
Following a meeting of the Partnership’s project board today (Wednesday 12th Feb 2003 Thames Valley Safer Roads Partnership have made the following response to the Department of Transport’s report on speed cameras:-
“We welcome the report and whilst we are concerned about the overall casualty levels we must not lose sight of the fact that we entered the pilot project with a history of almost 10 years use of camera enforcement which had already resulted in significant reductions in Death and Serious Injury.
Our own figures show that we are continuing to affect the most serious road crashes especially at our targeted sites. We are also having a much wider effect on traffic speeds which not only affects casualty reduction but also improves the environment for our communities. We regret the fact that the report fails to fully recognise our previous contribution and that the base line for the study was set after those reductions had occured.
Our original strategy was to make much better use of our existing infrastructure. Having achieved that, we recognise the need to spread the deterrent effect beyond the fixed camera sites. We now focus much more on mobile enforcement at specific sites and on routes which have high collision rates. We will continue to work with the Department for Transport to review our future activities as we are acutely aware that we cannot afford to stand still when it comes to saving lives on our roads. We welcome suggestions for improvement and consider the DfT report as an opportunity to do even better.
The reality is that speed cameras continue to protect residents and road users in Thames Valley and are in great demand by our communities. We are committed to reducing speeding and road crashes, concentrating, in the first place, on reducing the severity of injuries."
Ian Duncan
Buckinghamshire County Council
(Full press release at:
http://www.saferroads.org/DisplayPage.asp?pageid=18 )
Now, I've got the message - when will they d'you think??
**with Oxfordshire County Council, Buckinghamshire County Council, Milton Keynes Council, Slough Borough Council, Royal Borough of Windsor & Maidenhead, Bracknell Forest Borough Council, Wokingham District Council, Reading Borough Council, West Berkshire Council, Thames Valley Magistrates Courts Services, Crown Prosecution Service and The Highways Agency