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Speed camera set on fire
11:40am Tuesday 5th August 2008
ONE of Swindon’s six functioning speed cameras has been torched only two months after another camera suffered a similar fate.
The camera, which is located on the northbound stretch of the A419, just before the Turnpike roundabout at Blunsdon, was set alight at approximately 2am on Saturday.
It was one of four temporary speed cameras placed alongside roadworks to protect both workers and motorists while construction work continued on the Blunsdon bypass.
The last Swindon camera to be set alight, on the A345 opposite Chiseldon Primary School, has yet to be replaced, despite the vandalism occurring on May 31. So far five cameras have been destroyed in the last six years.
The latest incident comes only days after the Wiltshire and Swindon Safety Camera Partnership revealed to the Adver how many drivers were caught and fined by speed cameras since 2002.
The data, given as part of a Freedom of Information request, shows that 53,685 people have been caught speeding by the Swindon cameras, raising £1,888,890.
Figures also show that the less derided red-light cameras have also raked in £815,910 worth of fines and caught 8,903 drivers since 2002.
The figures remain much higher however, when taken from across Wiltshire, where the cameras made almost £1.76m from drivers last year alone.
Swindon’s speed cameras have attracted national media attention over the past few weeks due to Swindon Council’s previous statements that it might be the first local authority in the country to pull out of the safety camera partnership.
The council is thinking about taking the steps after Coun Peter Greenhalgh (Con, Freshbrook and Grange Park) and cabinet member for highways, transport and strategic planning, claimed the council deserved some of the revenue from the cameras instead of it all going to the Government.
He believes the £400,000 the council put into the scheme should qualify them for them to receive some back.
Coun Greenhalgh said he would prefer education and information rather than using prosecution to encourage drivers to drive safely.
He said: “If the Government were so concerned with saving people’s lives then they should be more concerned with hospital-bound bacteria.
“The local authority should not be put in charge of anything criminal – that is the police’s duty not the councils.
“In some cases some cameras are used not for the purpose of saving people’s lives but to raise money.
“I would say that motorways are the safest roads in Britain but mobile cameras are increasingly being put on bridges above them.”
Anne Snelgrove, MP for South Swindon, said that the Government paid out around £110m per year for road safety – whereas fines add up to around £99.5m.
Your Say YourSwindon
Robh, Swindon says...
12:59pm Tue 5 Aug 08
Robh, Swindon says...
1:03pm Tue 5 Aug 08
She seems to ignore the billions of pounds collected in motor taxes. Perhaps she could tell us how much of that goes back into motoring to balance the arguement.
Big Mac, Old Town says...
1:14pm Tue 5 Aug 08
Even Angrier Monkey, Swindon says...
1:32pm Tue 5 Aug 08
Coun Greenhalgh makes a good point regarding motorways also.
ourtone, Freshbrook says...
2:01pm Tue 5 Aug 08
Enough information is now available. Enough data has been reviewed. We can be sure. Speed Cameras kill. They are dangerous. They should be removed from UK roads by any means necessary.
That is why the DfT is quietly abandoning the policy.
Lafyor Socksoff, Swindon says...
5:25pm Tue 5 Aug 08
potluck, Swindon says...
8:29pm Tue 5 Aug 08
Most of the current signage "stating" the quantity of accidents on particular stretches of roads around the UK are not changed from year to year, thus if the stats are the "SAME" then camera's are not the best option. The sight of a police motorway patrol car has a greater effect on road safety than a poorly sighted revenue collector
Malkym, Highworth on the hill says...
12:05pm Wed 6 Aug 08
Malkym, Highworth on the hill says...
12:13pm Wed 6 Aug 08
yiddo, swindon says...
3:55pm Wed 6 Aug 08
g5wq, south marston says...
9:39pm Thu 7 Aug 08
why are there 3 cameras on the A419 northbound in the space of 1 mile and none on the rest of the road between blunsdon and birdlip hill and beyond .
has anyone noticed the line painting mistake on one of the camera sites on the A419 near blunsdon , ie about an extra 10 feet of dashed lines which have not been completely painted in or removed .
the majority of speed cameras are strategically placed in positions that will create the maximum number of catches in order to make the most money .
there have obviously been business plans made for all sitings of speed cameras , in order to maximise potential earnings from the cameras .
we are "the public " but we are not stupid, and we know exactly what is going on , so dont try to hoodwink us into believing something that we know is not true .
in order to slow traffic down , we need to slow all the traffic down and that means slowing all vehicles down all along the roads and not just in a few places here and there ..
vehicles nowadays are too fast accelerating and can do far in excess of our speed limits , they do not need to be this way .
with current technology all cars can be manufactured with GPS controlled speed limiters which can adjust the speed of the vehicle to suit either the speed limit in place or driving conditions at the time .
vehicle speed could also be controlled or manipulated by police vehicles in the event that they need to stop or slow someone down, for any reason whether it be criminal or civil related .
perhaps that is what we will see in the future .
i dont like speed cameras but i accept why they are there .
i do wish there were actually enough policemen on patrol on our roads to enforce the law though .
most drivers know they wont see a patrol car in a hundred miles , hence why we have so many idiots on the road who drive like maniacs without due care and attention to the highway code or other road users .
ourtone, Freshbrook says...
11:06am Fri 8 Aug 08
I can see where you are going with the idea of the police being able to slow cars down, but there are a bunch of reasons why this is not a good idea.
For one thing, systems malfunction. Can you imagine cars in a 10 mile section of the M25 in rush hour getting a 'stop' signal! Talk about chaotic.
Second, systems can be misused. Can you imagine someone stopping cars to create congestion for a political protest or for a crime?
Third, what about all the cars that don't have the controls. If half the vehicles on a stretch of road suddenly brake to a halt, and half don't, it will be carnage.
Fourth, what about insurance liability? A car stops suddenly and another runs into the back of it. the first driver says "it wasn't me, it was the auto braking system." It would take ages to resolve.
No thanks. People aren't perfect, but it is better than letting a bunch of silicon chips do your thinking.
Bluto, Swindon says...
11:01pm Fri 8 Aug 08
It’s a twenty mile an hour limit around Cavendish Square and yet no one does follow it. So a penalty is levied to modify driver’s behaviour.
As for Cllr Greenhalgh's comments, when such a barely disguised petrol head can rationalise things on the grounds of 'proportionality', he needs to realise the vast proportion of driver do not fear either the speed limit or any of its methods of determining infringements of the limit.
You see society makes rules in order to run it in a civil fashion, we you cowboys take the law into your own hands, then we are heading backwards into lawlessness.
If you are in the ascendency then lobby and get the law changed, but democracy does not favour the voice of the lunatic minority, it’s a safeguard we take as vital to avoid a worse political situation than we find ourselves in currently!
Bluto
Bobfm, South Marston says...
6:02pm Sat 9 Aug 08
ourtone, Freshbrook says...
7:21am Sun 10 Aug 08
Have you seen the news about County Durham?
Over the last ten years, road deaths there have dropped by 40%.
In the rest of the country, the figure is 7%.
What are Co Durham doing right? They do not have a single solitary speed camera. Not one. They do proper old fashioned traffic policing that treats drivers like intelligent human beings and not cash cows!
Bluto, Swindon says...
10:47pm Tue 12 Aug 08
You still don't pointedly disassociate yourself from lawlessness its begrudging at the end of your text, you complain over the democratic process and fail to acknowledge law breaking! I have fallen foul of the law whilst driving, fair cop, had I dropped litter or spat on the pavement and been knicked as I knew it was unlawfull, why gripe.
If you got a point and its well supported lobby not lynch mob.
Bluto
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The burnt-out speed camera near Turnpike roundabout
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Dick-Turpin, Swindon says...
12:55pm Tue 5 Aug 08