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Keep cameras for safe roads
1:19pm Friday 18th July 2008
Comments (21)SWINDON Council must not go "cold turkey" with speed cameras.
That is the opinion of road safety campaigner Andrew McGavin, the founder of website BetterDrivingPlease.com.
Andrew believes that Swindon Council has an opportunity to give the town some of the safest roads in the UK.
But only if it does not drop funding for speed cameras.
His comments came in response to news that the council could become the first in the country to stop funding for speed cameras in the town.
Instead, Andrews feels the council should move funding from speed cameras to human policing over a number of years, and target the minority of persistent offenders.
Andrew said: "Scrapping all speed cameras is not the answer.
"Yes, it would be a popular thing to do as the public see them as Government cash generators.
"But there is a place for speed cameras in keeping roads safe.
"They need to be used correctly to target the most dangerous drivers, rather than those doing a few miles per hour over the speed limit.
"Then the public will see them as the valuable tools they are."
Andrew points to an example in Europe where public attitudes to speed cameras have been transformed.
In Sweden the authorities have used them to alter driving rather than being perceived as a source of revenue.
He added: "While scaling down some of the worst excesses of speed cameras Swindon Council should invest in more human traffic policing to support the police, similar to the way community support officers are used on the streets.
"Indiscriminate use of speed cameras with low police visibility has alienated the public.
"But the council is thinking differently and Swindon has the opportunity to have the safest roads in the UK in a few years."
BetterDrivingPlease.com has had more than 1.5 million visitors who have reported sightings of bad driving or searched through the 15,000 available.
Anyone who spots any form of bad driving can report the number plate of the offending vehicle, what happened and where for public viewing.
Your Say YourSwindon Advertiser
Frontier(s), says...
2:12pm Fri 18 Jul 08
Frankly, this is a man who encourages grasses, snitches and liars to make annonymous comments about others, so his credibility it pretty much shot from the outset.
Gentle Ben, swindon says...
2:15pm Fri 18 Jul 08
A driver will lower there speed for a short time as they drive pass a speed camera, and other than this the camera has little or no effect on the drivers actions or speed anywhere else on the same length of road, especially over a period of time when the locals get to know where they are situated.
Speed humps however control a drivers speed for the whole length of the road, which is a far more effective method of reducing a drivers speed.
There are more efficient forms of speed and traffic control measures that can be be used instead of speed cameras, and I hope Rod Bluh and the council have the courage of their convictions to stay on their present course, and they have my full backing.
Frontier(s), says...
2:18pm Fri 18 Jul 08
I truly hope they have the courage of their convictions and make their plans reality.
To go back on them now and to keep the speed cameras would mean the Tory council would lose all credibility in most people's eyes.
And anyway, if you need a bigger pointer as to the fact speed cameras should be removed, Anne Snelgrove says they shouldn't be.
Kind of ends the debate really.
Buster, Town Centre says...
2:32pm Fri 18 Jul 08
For the life of me I don't know of a dual carriage way in Wescott Place. If these people want to be picky about other road users to the point where they actually publish car registration numbers, then they should at least be clear about what they're complaining about and where it happened.
emmylou83, Stratton says...
2:35pm Fri 18 Jul 08
Speed humps however control a drivers speed for the whole length of the road, which is a far more effective method of reducing a drivers speed.
Yeah but they can't half do damage to your car, going over the ones in pinehurst extremely slowly still knock my car from piller to post :o( poor betty we don't do down there anymore
LordBelacqua, Swindon says...
2:41pm Fri 18 Jul 08
emmylou83 wrote:Amen to that. Poor little Violet nearly had a heart attack when we went down there for the first time.
Speed humps however control a drivers speed for the whole length of the road, which is a far more effective method of reducing a drivers speed.Yeah but they can't half do damage to your car, going over the ones in pinehurst extremely slowly still knock my car from piller to post :o( poor betty we don't do down there anymore
Frontier(s), says...
2:49pm Fri 18 Jul 08
LordBelacqua wrote:How odd, I'd always thought you were male, LordB.
emmylou83 wrote:Amen to that. Poor little Violet nearly had a heart attack when we went down there for the first time.Speed humps however control a drivers speed for the whole length of the road, which is a far more effective method of reducing a drivers speed.Yeah but they can't half do damage to your car, going over the ones in pinehurst extremely slowly still knock my car from piller to post :o( poor betty we don't do down there anymore
LordBelacqua, Swindon says...
2:51pm Fri 18 Jul 08
How odd, I'd always thought you were male, LordB.
My car is rather feminine, I thought that as my first car she deserved a name, and Violet seemed most appropriate after discussion with Emmy.
Frontier(s), says...
2:52pm Fri 18 Jul 08
LordBelacqua, Swindon says...
2:56pm Fri 18 Jul 08
Frontier(s) wrote:I most certainly did. I'm not the first of my friends to do it either. My friend had an old '90 fiesta. Called it Frederick Arthur Wilhem I/II/III/IV, depending the number of cylinders that were working on any given day.
You really named your car?
emmylou83, Stratton says...
3:02pm Fri 18 Jul 08
Frontier(s) wrote:Hehehe
LordBelacqua wrote:How odd, I'd always thought you were male, LordB.emmylou83 wrote:Amen to that. Poor little Violet nearly had a heart attack when we went down there for the first time.Speed humps however control a drivers speed for the whole length of the road, which is a far more effective method of reducing a drivers speed.Yeah but they can't half do damage to your car, going over the ones in pinehurst extremely slowly still knock my car from piller to post :o( poor betty we don't do down there anymore
He is but we went for a drive in Betty and we decided to name his car too :o)
chris, swindon says...
3:35pm Fri 18 Jul 08
Grumpy old man, Swindon says...
4:04pm Fri 18 Jul 08
Taxpower, Swinetown says...
4:21pm Fri 18 Jul 08
yeti, swindon says...
4:29pm Fri 18 Jul 08
geoff reid, says...
4:41pm Fri 18 Jul 08
My view on Andrew McGavin could be described as 'minimalist'.
He's an utter **** who thinks the East German Stasi had neighbourhood policing 'just right'.
firkhamhall, out of Swindon says...
8:18am Sat 19 Jul 08
steve-o, Swindon says...
11:21am Sat 19 Jul 08
Ankh, Morpork says...
1:55pm Sat 19 Jul 08
Frontier(s), says...
2:03pm Sat 19 Jul 08
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yeti, swindon says...
1:41pm Fri 18 Jul 08