Go slow: police win the right to camouflage speed cameras
By Ben Webster

The prominent yellow boxes may be harder to identify from next year

MOTORISTS face the return of hidden speed cameras after rules governing
their siting and visibility cease to be enforced from April 2007.
Camera partnerships, which include police and local authorities,
will be able to repaint yellow cameras to make them blend into the background.

They will also be able to install cameras where there is a
speeding problem but little history of crashes.

At present the partnerships are bound by strict rules issued by
the Department for Transport. The cameras must be painted bright
yellow and be visible from at least 60m (200ft) away. They can be
installed only at sites where there have been at least three
collisions causing death or serious injury and three causing
slight injury within a kilometre in the previous three years.

Many partnerships believe that the rules are too restrictive.
Last autumn, Richard Brunstrom, the Chief Constable of North Wales Police,
said that many more lives would be saved if there were more
flexibility in camera location.

He said: “Parents often write to us and ask us to put a camera
outside a school because the traffic is so dangerous. It’s very
difficult to write back and say, ‘Please let us know when your
son is killed and then we can consider putting a camera there.’ ”

Alistair Darling, the Transport Secretary, said in December that
partnerships would no longer be able to keep the cash from camera
fines to pay for more cameras. They will get grants from a central
road safety fund to pay for cameras or alternative measures such
as new markings or humps.

Ian Bell, the camera liaison officer for the Association of Chief
Police Officers, said that regional differences were likely.
“If a highway authority wants to install more cameras and they
have the money there will be nothing to stop them. They may
decide to put cameras in places the criteria do not currently
allow, such as in villages and around schools.”

Lee Murphy, speed camera manager for Cheshire, said:
“If the rules weren’t compulsory we could use cameras
to tackle emerging trends rather than waiting for the minimum
number of collisions.”

A Department of Transport spokesman said: “Local authorities
will have freedom to use cameras where appropriate and where
they see fit. But we do not want to see a return to the bad old
days of cameras being hidden behind trees. We are minded to use
guidance to achieve this, but if authorities flout it we will
consider regulation. If they want to paint cameras grey we
will want to know why.”

Kevin Delaney, the head of road safety at the RAC Foundation, said:
“We are concerned that some partnerships will conceal cameras
and risk losing the trust of motorists. It makes sense for
cameras to be yellow because it slows people down at accident blackspots.”

Brake, a road safety charity, welcomed the new flexibility
for partnerships. Mary Williams, its chief executive, said:
“Requiring casualties before action is abhorrent and results
in needless deaths. We welcome the opportunity for covert
enforcement because too many motorists simply slow down
briefly for a yellow camera.”

I guess the likes of Road Angel & Tom Tom will be getting used more and more as these units warn you exactly where the speed camera's are and lets face it, if they start hiding the speed camera's then you need to know where they are....

How can slowing down for a camera, and then speeding back up again 'save lives'. Silly *******.
And why do people like this continue to contradict the facts that speed cameras do nothing for road safety? Why not bung 3 points on your licence and forget about the fine? It's blatantly about the money!!!

av you seen them over cameras coming in aswell? the ones that measure your average speed from 2 points! to stop u ragin it after the short distance of the camera

You mean specs, they've been around for ages. Specs cameras can't read square plates. They only have them on motorways too.

Its all crap,the whole "point" to speed cameras is traffic calming,but theyre being abused and used for income now,i know what im gonna do,im gonna crash right infront of a camera at a ton and say i wouldnt of crashed had i seen the camera as i would have slowed down,and then sue the pigs

(obviously im joking but u think it'd work)


SPECs are ok as theyre clearly signposted,the sign says

"average speed checking" or somethin so u know exactly when to start doin 1mph under the limit

specs are becoming the most popular speed cameras now and are on more roads than you think.

if you place spec cameras on a begining of a road and space it out then now one would be able to speed at all, i found this out in nottingham and sheffield when i was in a hurry lol.

just take time to look for the cameras thats all i can say

I have been lent a Snooper by a friend for a trip to Loughborough and back over friday and saturday. My girlfriend says that Snoopers are 'unethical' and 'whats the point in them because you shouldn't be speeding anyway?' - I failed to come back with a dignified answer...

So surely if the Police have won the right to now 'hide' speedcameras surely a Snooper would be fine to use? But then it leads back in a viscous circle of 'you should be doing the speed limit anyway!!' - damn women..

fact remains,the speed limits are far too low on most of our roads,so i do the speed that i see fit for the situation.And when i fancy a play,ill go even faster(conditions dependant tho),most of the time i do a slightly higher speed than the limit,not because im in a rush but because doin 70 on the motorway at 2AM in the dry is merely WASTING time,u may aswell do 85 to save a few minutes and its no more dangerous than if ur doing 70,for instance,my 200 miles of M6/M74 i travel from dundee to wirral would take a tad under 3 hours at 70,but 15-20 mins less at 85 and its not like u can crash on a straight clear 3 or 4 lane wide motorway