Speed cameras 'may be causing accidents'

The lack of traffic officers used to monitor motoring offences may be causing more accidents than speeding motorists did before speed cameras were positioned, a new book alleges.

In the book entitled "Scared to Death: The Anatomy of a Very Dangerous Phenomenon" by Christopher Booker and Richard North, government statistics are used to show that the trend of falling road accident and deaths, which had continued from post war onward, steadied and began to rise in the mid 1990s, despite the increasing use of speed cameras.

Kevin Delaney, a former head of the Metropolitan Police traffic division, told the Daily Telegraph: "Any figures that show an increase against a downward trend ought to be ringing alarm bells."

"The deterrent effect on motorists of a police officer enforcing traffic regulations is incalculable, but we are seeing fewer and fewer of them."

The book also draws upon reports from an engineer called Paul Smith, who, through his website safespeed.org.uk has used the freedom of information act to collect statistics to show that in two-thirds of accidents described as caused by excessive speed, the speed limit was not exceeded.

Both speeding motorists and speed cameras are an issue for caravan owners.

They spend more time than the average motorist on the road, meaning they face a greater threat from fines and bad driving.

11/11/2007 17:22:22