Anne: Council Has Invited Boy Racers to Swindon

Anne has responded to the Council’s decision to commence discussions to leave the Swindon Safety Camera Partnership, she said:

“By trying to remove the speed cameras in Swindon the council has effectively invited every boy racer in the country to come here. With the school holidays approaching we do not want our roads turned into a race track. The cost to the taxpayer on the NHS of not having cameras will run into the hundreds of thousands of pounds because of the accidents caused.”

Anne has released a letter (attached) which gives the Government’s response to the council’s original request to use the cameras in Swindon as a stealth tax for their coffers.

Anne said:

“The letter shows the Council was only ever interested in getting cash from the cameras – when the Government said “no” the Council decided to scrap them. The Government recognised that the council are acting on the basis of cash, not safety. It’s important that the body that controls where cameras are situated doesn’t get the money from fines: Allowing the Council to retain fine revenues would run the risk that they might be seen as operating the cameras as a way to raise revenue. The best camera shouldn’t raise a penny, it should just be there as a deterrent to speeding.”

“It is ridiculous that the council are talking about speed bumps and other traffic calming devices instead of cameras, they work on some roads but not on the dual carriageways in Swindon. They want to pull out of one of the most successful safety camera partnerships in the country - this is a maverick council out of control that needs to apply the brakes.”  

Anne is writing to the police, safety camera partnership and charities that are advocates for the victims of car accidents to step up the campaign.

Additional Information

This is the original council motion from Swindon Council which shows their motivation is to retain fine revenues:

Motion - Swindon Safety Camera Partnership

Councillor Andy James will move and Councillor Peter Greenhalgh will second:

This Council notes the large amount of money raised for Central Government by the Wiltshire and Swindon Safety Camera Partnership. This Council also notes the persistent under-funding by Central Government of all service areas in Swindon since 1997, including highways, by failing to take into account the extra cost pressures the authority faces. Therefore, this Council requests that the Leader of the Council write to the Minister requesting that the fines raised by the Safety Camera Partnership in the Borough be returned to the Council and hypothecated for highways purposes. Should the Government fail to accede to this request, this Council urges the Cabinet to commence discussions to secure the withdrawal of Swindon Borough Council from the Wiltshire and Swindon Safety Camera Partnership and refocus investment into other safety measures, and report back to the Full Council on this matter.

 Anne said:

“The average medical, ambulance, and police costs for a fatal accident are £7,110 and for a serious accident £13,360, the overall value of preventing a fatality on the road is estimated to be £ 1,428,180, for a serious accident it’s £160,480. Taking away road safety measures costs the tax payer and costs society.”

Based on information given in answer to a PQ asking for the average cost to the public purse of road traffic accidents. See HC Deb 04 June 2007 c108W:

http://www.parliament.the-stationery-office.co.uk/pa/cm200607/cmhansrd/cm070604/text/70604w0027.htm

The values used to estimate the benefits of the prevention of road accidents are set out in the DfT publication Highways Economic Note No. 1: 2005 Valuation of the Benefits of Prevention of Road Accidents and Casualties, published in January 2007. This is available online at:

http://www.dft.gov.uk/pgr/roadsafety/ea/

Table 1 in the above publication breaks down the costs and gives figures for medical and ambulance related costs separately. 

Letter from Swindon Borough Council Regarding Views on Speed Cameras

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