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UK is £10k per-hour speed camera king but does plan to step up the spread of cameras show cash means more than casualties?

Revelations by the Audit Office add fuel to an increasingly heated debate about the value of speed cameras and lower limits to the critical task of cutting UK road casualties. Latest figures show that the Treasury gains £10,000 per hour everyday from speed camera PCNs, and that the number of cameras in Britain has trebled in six years. Nevertheless, during that time the UK’s place in casualty reduction tables has slumped from near the top to 11th out of 23 other countries for pedestrian deaths. Meanwhile, DFT figures show that top causal factor for casualties is not speeding, but “driver error/reaction”, which is attributed to 60% of all accidents and includes ‘failing to look properly’ and ‘misjudging a turn’ and not speed. These figures also show that only 5% of all accidents and 15% of fatal crashes are caused by ‘exceeding the speed limit’. Critics of current plans include a rising number of road safety campaigners who suggest that cameras are not the answer. Nevertheless Government plans to expand the number of UK roads ‘policed’ in this way. The latest plans include 19 sets of cameras above a six-mile section of the M20 and M25. In theory, according to the Highways Agency, this is to help ‘regulate’ traffic flow. But TC notes that motorways remain by far the safest roads in Britain in terms of casualty rates, and that links between exceeding speed limits on urban roads and evidence of corresponding casualty problems are not always as clear as protagonists of greater enforcement suggest. For example TC sees that the Police in Cambridge clocked 32,000 drivers exceeding a 30 mph speed limit in one week on a single city centre road – which amounted to 75% of all drivers during that week. Predictably this prompted calls for urgent steps – and yet no account was mentioned in this report of the salient fact that not one accident or casualty of any severity occurred as a result of the 32,000 instances of speed limit excess. Doubtless this debate will continue raging on…

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9th May 2009 by leonmannings

Potholes are a “natural” traffic-calming benefit SHOCK! …Barmy claim or hidden agenda in reality for UK roads?

A “very dangerous” and seemingly barmy plan to leave potholes unrepaired to act as “natural traffic-calming” in the Essex village of Navestock, has focused nationwide media attention on controversial proposals by Parish Councillor Richard Folkson. But, in a letter under ‘More’ below, the councillor at the centre of the media brouhaha denies being the driver of plans that a retired policeman resident says are “very dangerous”, and especially for “the elderly, cyclists, motorcyclists and horse riders”. Mainstream news include reports from the BBC, and Telegraph . A range of more robust comments from the British Blogosphere can be found here. Most accounts imply that Cllr Folkson is some sort of deranged yokel – and fuels this entertaining notion with quotes from retired police officer Roy Tyzack. The ex-cop is reported as saying that it “beggars belief that the people who are supposed to be acting on behalf of the parishioners think it a good idea to put people at risk”. Potholes are “very dangerous” and, “we have a great deal of them”, he adds. However, although this ‘local’ story has made national news on the back of statements by local councillors that are easily sensationalised as barmy, most media coverage is wide of the mark at the centre of this sorry saga and a generally underreported scandal. Local authority failures to repair potholes are increasingly prompting court ruling against local authorities who are breaching their duties of care as latest BBC report of a cyclist’s injuries and compensation highlights. What is less clear is that such waste is irrespective of whether this is ‘just’ a dereliction of governance duty, or the result of a hidden policy agenda to substitute appropriate action to maintain roads with a program of government inaction. Intriguingly, the Guardian and organs of similar tone have averted their output from this issue whereas, Massey of the Mail highlights the extent of these costs here, and David Williams features other angles on the matter here . Correspondingly, TC suspects that the main cause of problems for Folkson, and the central issue here, is not that he originated the idea that local authorities should leave potholes unrepaired – but that he has been exquisitely naive in voicing what many transport planners think to themselves – and use to decide what happens in practice on UK roads. As other reports reveal, the scourge of potholes is widespread throughout the UK highways network and can cause serious injury – especially to vulnerable road users including pedestrians, cyclists and motorcyclists. TC also suggests that the key reason that this tiny Parish pothole affair has made national news is that it highlights a nationwide scandal that is all too familiar to the great British public. For those who are bothered enough about potholes to report them there are websites to make this easier. One of the first of these was created by the British Motorcyclists Federation BMF who have had some success in prompting repairs here , or you might use fixmystreet.com. Finally, TC notes that It is also clear to some of us that local authorities are allowing roads to be surfaced to such a poor standard that they become potholed in a far shorter period than is reasonable in the 21st century AND at great inconvenience and cost to UK road users. Read More »

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21st April 2009 by leonmannings

Barrack Obama UK visit Shock! Top secret mission to support opponents of Westminster bike parking tax hidden by media blackout and G20 summit

US President Barrack Obama flew into London this week on a well publicised trip to help UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown in his latest move to ‘save the world’ from stalling bankers. But, as Transport Crucible.com can now reveal in a world exclusive, the main purpose of his first UK visit was not attendance of the G20 summit with Brown and other heads of state as widely reported. His arrival in Air Force One at Stanstead airport on the afternoon of March 31st, coincided with a media blackout on coverage of his real first engagement. This was as top secret mission to covertly attend a rally in Trafalgar Square and a mass ride of over 4,500 scooter and motorcycle riders round Parliament Square that was organised by the No-To-Bike-Parking-Tax (NTBPT) campaign group. The protest rally attracted a large crowd and the subsequent ride involved over 4,500 riders on scooters, mopeds and motorcycles of every shape and size as reported in the article from The Sun 03.04.09, (see below). It can also be revealed that the campaign group and media moguls had agreed to keep the US president’s support for the NTBPT fight against a trial tax on scooter and motorbike parking a closely guarded secret until the summit was over. Now it can be revealed that unconfirmed reports suggest that Obama was privately ‘outraged’ on hearing that the richest council in Britain is trying to prevent the poorest members of society entering the centre of London on scooters and motorbikes – which are increasingly recognised as a cheaper and greener alternative to cars and overcrowded commuter services – and that the council is trying to price the poor away by imposing a new daily parking tax on anyone using powered two wheelers as a way to get to work and help to cut London’s chronic congestion problems. It is also understood that Obama was privately more upset by the bike tax trial as he knew that the solution to the world’s financial crisis was in the safe hands of Britain’s PM Brown – and that G20 leaders would happily borrow a few trillion pounds to save the world again anyway.

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5th April 2009 by leonmannings

Emotions swamp objectivity as 50mph national limits herald a “sign of civilisation”, “fascist proposal” or “Greens’ plot”

Emotions swamp objectivity again over the intensely contentious issue-mix of speed limits, money-making cameras and ‘improving road safety’. The latest blasts of emotively charged claims, reactions and ‘news’ are sparked by the government’s plan to lower the national speed limit from 60 to 50 mph. Roads safety Minister, Jim Fitzpatrick is “sure that the vast majority of motorists would support the proposals”, according to The Times. But, as the plan also involves a nationwide spread of average speed cameras – with automated fine issuing facilities to ‘monitor’ driver’s speed over “distances of up to six miles”, TC is not so sure of such widespread support – or that it is necessarily deserved – especially when the evidence of speed as a contributory factor to fatal or serious incidents is viewed with more objectivity than emotion or commercial interest. Mainstream ‘news’ on whether a blanket of new lower 50 mph limits will be the blow for road safety it’s protagonist claim, and thereby a “sign of civilisation” or a “fascist proposal”, or even a “Greens’ Plot” can be found here and here . Key facts from the latest DfT Annual Report on Road Casualties are these.
“Exceeding the speed limit was attributed to 3% of cars involved in accidents, while travelling too fast for conditions was attributed to 6%. For fatal accidents these figures are 7% and 10% respectively.” Whereas, “Driver/rider error or reaction” was attributed as a contributory factor in 66% of all fatalities. Other views of this issue mix are currently flying around the British blogosphere and many are in stark con contrast to the Minister’s assessment of public opinion. So, albeit for adults only, a taste of these can be seen here. Reference to hard evidence on the causes of traffic casualties is essential for all who are serious about improving road safety. The collection and publication of such data is however a very recent development – which only started after the UK began loosing its former lead in casualty reduction in contrast neighbouring nations. A more extensive analysis of this issue mix can be found in two previous articles by Leon Mannings. The first was written for the leading journal for UK Transport Professionals LTT, and the second was one of an ongoing series of columns for the motorcyclists’ magazine, Motorcycle Sport and Leisure aka MSL. Read More »

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12th March 2009 by leonmannings

Top Conservative councils head in opposite directions to pioneer the new ‘right’ way to go with parking charges

Two of the top ranked Conservative councils in Britain are blazing trails in opposite directions by developing radical new approaches to parking in the Capital. One way to go, currently on trial in Westminster, has triggered rising waves of objections and protest. The other has triggered an outburst of support from local businesses and cross-party calls for its immediate introduction in other boroughs. Westminster City Council (WCC) are trialling an extension of constraints on parking that is unprecedented throughout the developed world. Under ‘experimental traffic orders’ the council have imposed charges for parking motorcycles in M/C bays for the first time on UK public roads in their borough. This pioneering scheme is however increasingly unpopular with scooter and motorbike riders as news of it spreads. In the first six months of the trial the costs of ‘improvements’ that were originally used to justify the new charges have been finalised at £380,000, but the surplus from fines and fees has topped £2million – and is rising every day. The pioneer of the controversial scheme is Cllr Danny Chalkley who will begin a review of the trial this week. WCC have already received over 3,000 written objections to the trial and seen a succession of demonstrations against the scheme as TC reported here. The latest ‘Bikers Storm City Hall’ demo involved 500 riders jamming Park Lane in the rush and holding an impromptu meeting in the council’s foyer on Tuesday. Links to reports and vids ca be found here at the no-to-bike-parking-tax website here. Meanwhile, in the neighbouring Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea (RBKC), the council have taken an equally radical step in the opposite direction to WCC. RBKC have now decided to make parking for cars and motorbikes completely free on many key streets in an attempt to woo shoppers back into the borough. Reports on this from the BBC are here. This radical move by Conservative led RBKC is however also attracting support from local business and the Labour opposition group in Camden and as reported in local press here and here and by Newsblog Labour. TC notes various things with interest: As public anger at the new WCC scheme grows it seems that Conservative parliamentarians are moving on from fence sitting, in the form of a position that this scheme is a ‘local politics issue’ – to one in which the nationwide implications of the WCC trial is being considered and commented on in a more critical way. Not least of these is Tory Shadow Roads Minister, Robert Goodwill MP. He has now expressed hopes that the WCC scheme will not be “replicated widely”. Big new challenges for local authorities and elected members regarding the direction of parking policy are emerging from these recent developments. TC suggests that the key questions are these: Will cash strapped local authorities look at their dwindling funds and take a lead from WCC in trying to turn bikers into the next source of transport related stealth tax revenue. Or, will WCC become increasingly isolated from other authorities and support from Conservative party HQ. Lastly, what will promoters of the ‘need’ for parking fees and fines do if a radical and nationwide shift towards free parking makes life better for local communities?

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22nd February 2009 by leonmannings
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