Intranetics Motoring News Service

Police roll out speed camera alternative

28th August 2007 | BACK     PRINT

Police in Norfolk, concerned about the number of motorists driving too fast, have unveiled a new alternative to speed cameras. The new equipment, which is designed to aid the battle against danger on local roads, consists of vans fitted with electronic warning signs.

According to a report in the Eastern Daily Press, Wednesday will see the vehicles rolling out onto the highways and byways of the region, urging drivers to consider their speed and reduce the risk of accident. It is hoped that the mobile nature of this deterrent will give officers the chance to respond rapidly to troubled areas, setting up shop and targeting a specific set of drivers. This enables a much faster turnaround time, evidently, than installing speed cameras.

Dubbed Speed Awareness Messages, or Sams - an acronym they perhaps appropriately share with military attack deterrents surface to air missiles - the new hi-tech systems have been introduced by the Norfolk Safety Camera Partnership in association with the local council and police forces.

Bryan Edwards, a spokesman for the Norfolk Safety Camera Partnership, claimed that the initiative is in direct response to a "hardcore" of speeders who continue to break the law despite the overall positive trend therein.

"The idea is that any parish council or community group can contact us with any concerns they have about speeding and we will be able to deploy the vehicles to their area for several days to act as a deterrent," he told the publication.

"This will be accompanied by high-profile campaigns to highlight the consequences of speeding."

However, Mr Edwards also moved to dismiss the idea that some opponents of speed cameras level at the devices. Some groups and individuals believe that gatsos are merely designed to act as a cash cow for authorities, penalising drivers and maximising fine money. This is not the case, said the expert.

"We would be quite happy if the number of detections was zero," he explained.

Figures from the local area released by the paper show that authorities seem to be winning the battle against this potentially devastating crime. The county's roads saw 25 per cent fewer people caught speeding in 2006-07 than the previous year.

According to data from Norfolk Safety Camera Partnership, individual roads such as the A1042 Mile Cross Lane (Ring Road) have seen reductions in accident numbers and speed. At this site, 14 injury collisions took place causing four serious injuries in the three years after a speed camera was installed, a fall from 20 crashes and people badly hurt in the previous three.

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