Road Safety Cameras

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The Secretary of State for Transport (Mr Alistair Darling):  I am today publishing an independent research report which confirms the effectiveness of the national safety camera programme over the four years from April 2000 to March 2004. I am also announcing changes which will end the current ring-fencing of funding for safety cameras, and will give much more local flexibility and accountability, both on funding and in other respects, to local authorities, the police and the other agencies who are involved in improving road safety at the local level.

The four year research report, prepared by PA Consulting and University College London, examines over 4,000 camera sites in 38 safety camera partnership areas, covering virtually the whole of Great Britain. The report finds that safety cameras continue to be highly effective in reducing speeding, accidents and casualties at camera sites;

  • The number of vehicles exceeding the speed limit fell by 70% at fixed camera sites;
  • After allowing for the general trend of improving road safety, there was a 22% reduction in personal injury collisions (PICs) - around 4,230 fewer per annum; and
  • Again after allowing for the general trend, there was a 42% reduction in the number of people killed or seriously injured (KSIs) - around 1,745 fewer per annum, including over 100 fewer deaths.

The report also considers the “regression-to-mean” effect. This effect arises because the number of PICs and KSIs in the period before installation of a camera may be higher than the long-term average for that location. The report finds that, at the very small number of sites where it was possible to examine this effect, a proportion of the observed reduction in PICs and KSIs could be attributable to regression-to-mean. The report concludes that, even after allowing for this finding, safety cameras are achieving substantial and valuable reductions in collisions and casualties.  

I have placed a copy of the PA - UCL report in the Library. It will also be available on my Department's website.

I am also announcing today important changes to the national safety camera programme in England and Wales.  Taking account of the findings of the four year report, we have concluded that:

  • Safety cameras are delivering substantial and valuable reductions in accidents and casualties;
  • The current netting-off funding arrangements have enabled a rapid programme of investment in safety cameras;
  • The safety camera programme is now more mature, with some camera partnerships seeking few or no additional camera sites, as many of the worst casualty sites where a camera is the right solution have now been dealt with.

It is therefore now timely that camera activity and partnerships are integrated into the wider road safety delivery process.  For the future we are going to give greater flexibility to local authorities, the police and the other agencies who work with them to improve road safety, so that they can pursue whichever locally agreed mix of road safety measures will make the greatest contribution to reducing road casualties in their area.  As part of this process the responsibility for safety cameras in Wales will transfer to the National Assembly for Wales.

Therefore, 2006/07 will be the last year of the netting-off funding arrangements for safety cameras in England and Wales.    I understand that the Scottish Ministers are also considering the future of the hypothecated Safety Camera Programme in Scotland, and will announce their decision in due course.

For 2007/08 and beyond, my department will enhance the overall level of funding for road safety provided to local highway authorities in England through the Local Transport Plan (LTP) process.  For the first time a proportion of this funding will be revenue based. 

The enhanced funding will be allocated to authorities in accordance with their road safety needs (using the existing LTP road safety formula) and with the quality of their second round LTP submissions and delivery record.  We will also provide enhanced funding to Transport for London.  My Department is writing to all highway authorities in England to provide details of this change, and inviting them to reflect this new flexibility in their LTP submissions due in March 2006.

We propose to allocate some £110 million a year for this enhanced funding over the period 2007/08 to 2010/11. As well as the greater flexibility, this will provide financial stability and facilitate long term planning. It is also a substantial increase in funding for road safety, by comparison with the latest projection of 2005/06 expenditure by safety camera partnerships in England which is some £93 million.

In considering the quality of LTP submissions, we will have regard to, among other factors, the degree of cooperation and wider collaboration between the local authority, the police force and the other relevant agencies in the area, in respect of their road safety strategy, linkages with other areas of work and their approach to tackling individual problematic locations.  We want local strategies and decisions to be well-founded, taking account of the combined knowledge and expertise of all the agencies concerned, and to avoid duplication of effort. My Department will work closely with local road safety partnerships to help them produce high quality bids, and to deliver substantial casualty reductions.  We will also encourage road safety partnerships to include a wider range of other organisations in local decision-making, and not restrict themselves only to police and local authorities.

For the final year of safety camera netting-off funding in 2006/07 we are amending the Handbook of Rules and Guidance to reflect the findings of the four year report. The criteria on the location of safety cameras are being changed to ensure that cameras can be used where there is a strong road safety need.  The deployment criteria will take account of all injury accidents as well as the level of KSIs, look back five years rather than three; and allow camera enforcement on routes where there is a serious problem of speeding and casualties, without the problem necessarily being concentrated at one particular location.   A copy of the updated handbook will be placed in the Library and on my Department's website in due course.

The Handbook will also make improvements to the signing of cameras, to further assist drivers to recognise and comply with the speed limit:

  • Speed limit and camera signs will be co-located where possible
  • Signs will be placed to allow the sign and camera to be visible to the driver in the same view

We also intend to publish shortly revised guidance to Traffic Authorities on setting local speed limits, which will request authorities to review the speed limits on their A and B roads by 2011, and to give priority to reviewing the limit on any road [not just A and B roads) on which there are poor casualty histories or there is a widespread disregard for the current speed limit, especially where safety cameras are being considered.  By undertaking this review, which may lead to inappropriately low speed limits being raised as well as inappropriately high speed limits being lowered, we wish to encourage motorists to have greater respect for speed limits generally.

Delivered: 15 December 2005