Safety cameras in Scotland cut road deaths by two-thirds

Date: 1/8/2012

Roads in Scotland which have safety cameras installed have seen deaths reduced by two-thirds, according to new official figures which have been released.

In the three years before the cameras were put in place, 337 deaths were recorded in comparison to the 108 in the three years following their installation.

On top of the reduction in deaths there were also a decreased number of injuries experienced with numbers going from 1,400 to 684, which is a reduction of 48 per cent.

This was also measured in three year periods and refers to cameras such as those which measure speed or traffic light cameras.

In Scotland, figures released by the chief statistician show that speeding offences and red light offences have been on the decrease year on year.

As an interesting comparison there were 127,000 conditional offers of fixed penalty notices in the financial year 2005-06 whereas this number stood at 73,000 by 2010-11.

Kathleen Braidwood, Road Safety Officer for the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents Scotland, said: "We welcome the publication of figures that show reductions in the number of people killed or seriously injured at camera sites."

In the Scottish Crime and Justice Survey 2010-11, 82 per cent of people said that road safety cameras are considered as a good thing.

Miss Braidwood highlighted the fact that driver behaviour has an impact on safety as well as speed.

She said: "In Scotland, we really need to think about how we are driving on these roads, taking into account the constantly changing environment and what an appropriate speed is for rural roads.

"Safer driving on rural roads means not just travelling within the legal limit but also travelling at an appropriate speed for the conditions."

At sites where there are fixed speed cameras installed fewer vehicles were found to be breaking the speed limit when it stood at 30 miles per hour, going down to 14 per cent from 45 per cent.

In 70 miles zones it went from 33 per cent to 26 per cent, but in 40, 50  and 60 mile per hour zones it increased.

Posted by Sarah Bailey

Transport Research News and Vehicle Safety News