Safety first or stealth tax?
Speed cameras have been slammed throughout the UK by politicians and motoring groups who have branded them stealth traps and a tax on drivers.
In 2005, motorists caught by the 6,000 cameras in Great Britain were fined 114 million, with 22 million of that going to the Treasury.
At the time, then Shadow Transport Secretary Alan Duncan fumed: “This provides yet more evidence that speed cameras are being used as a stealth tax to raise money from motorists.”
Paul Smith of SpeedSafe, which campaigns against speed cameras, blasted the technology as unfair “because they detect technical violations not safety violations”.
But other commentators, such as Andrew Howard, the AA’s head of road safety, describe speed cameras as a “necessary evil”.
Northern Ireland currently has four fixed cameras, 31 mobile sites and five cameras designed to capture drivers jumping red lights – all with the power to impose a fine of 60 and penalty points.
The “red light running cameras” were the latest police tactic in their safety camera programme which has raised millions of pounds from local motorists since its launch five years ago.
Seven people have been killed and 77 seriously injured on roads in North Down since 2006. A total of 112 people were killed on roads across the Province last year.
This year’s death toll reached 19 last Wednesday when Nicola Murray, 16, was killed beside her twin sister in a road smash on their way to school in Tyrone.
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Saturday 04 February 2012
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