Do Speed Cameras Really Save Lives?

Speed cameras, yellow-topped saviours, silent, grey-poled sentinels on the roadside guarding us from the deadly excesses of wild speed, preserving our fragile motoring mortality.

Speed cameras, easy milking of the motorist cash-cow, bane of the professional driver, big-brother eye looking down at the hapless, frustrated, driver, a twenty-four hour intimidating finger-wagging official.

Debate and opinion vary of course, and either camp can produce statistics to back up their cases, though it is probably the majority of motorists who view them simply as a necessary pest, but the question is, ”do they save lives?”

The table of UK road fatalities does show a small but continuous fall for this millennium, but figures cannot be extrapolated for the effectiveness of speed cameras above other safety progressions such as air-bags and in-car alerts for wearing seat belts.

The siting of many fixed speed cameras are contentious, simply giving the impression of nothing other than raising fines money, and others of simply taking a problem from one stretch of road to another, avoiding the underlying problems which perhaps require financial infrastructure investment.

Whichever school of thought you may follow, one thing is pretty much for sure, and that is that speed cameras are not going to go away.

One reason these cameras, hand-held radar guns, and average speed cameras are not popular is that they insinuate that the driver is not capable of assessing the situation ahead, and that the machine will replace their judgement.

Conversely there can be little argument against the obvious fact that the slower a car goes into a problem situation, for instance, collision, the more probable the outcome will be less dramatic.

In 2010 an investigation by the Cochrane Collaboration ( an international group of safety experts) found that where cameras were introduced, fatal and serious accidents dropped by between 11 and 44 per cent, and their conclusion was, “it is clear, speed cameras do reduce injuries and death.”

What price driverless cars?

Hand in hand with the increase in cameras on our roads, we have seen similar growth in the number of specialist speeding lawyers providing expert advice and support for the growing number of motorists who find themselves being prosecuted. The largest of these is www.pattersonlaw.co.uk, who also publish their outstanding success rates.

If your licence is at risk, don’t take the chance and try defending it yourself, ask for professional help from proven experts.