New Which? Research Released

Police and local authorities across England and Wales have been urged by a road collision expert at Irwin Mitchell to act following new research which casts doubt over fixed speed cameras.

According to the statistics compiled by Which? Magazine, only 47 per cent of the devices were found to work at any one time, with major regional differences seen across the all of the police authorities analysed.

For example, while all of Sussex’s cameras were found to be in operation, just ten per cent of Lancashire’s were in use.

Irwin Mitchell regularly works with victims who have suffered serious injuries after being involved in road traffic collisions, often caused by speeding motorists.

Jane Horton of the firm’s Leeds office said: “Speed cameras play a vital role in ensuring motorists monitor and if appropriate reduce their speed.

“However, they do need to be taken seriously and it is vital that police authorities consider this research to see whether changes could be made in areas which continue to record a high number of serious or fatal incidents. This could involve repositioning existing cameras or adding additional cameras. When used properly they are a deterrent and this should be the reason for putting them there in the first place.

“Fully operational cameras can play a key role in hammering home the message that lessons must be learnt from the past and speeding cannot be tolerated on the UK’s roads. Prevention is always better than cure and controlling the speed of vehicles on our roads is essential to achieving this.”