 Speed cameras in your street
soon?
Yes if you live in one of London’s residential roads, you
may soon find a speed camera on every corner. Transport for London (TfL) are
already testing average speed cameras to enforce 20 mph zones in two London
boroughs, with more to follow. They may well be rolled out over the whole
of London in due course. There could be a spy camera monitoring your every
movement in a few years (and they won’t be used solely for speed
enforcement).
The ABD has launched a campaign against the use of 20 mph
average speed cameras in London and a dedicated campaign web site has been
set up at:
www.no20cameras.org
. Please visit that web site for comprehensive information on why you should
oppose the use of such cameras and support the campaign.
 The
photo to the left shows one of the proposed sites (Fitzjohns Avenue in
Hampstead). Does this really justify a 20 mph speed limit, or would other
alternative measures be more appropriate?
A short summary of the
arguments against these cameras is as follows (visit the dedicated web site
mentioned above for fuller information):
If
Transport for London (TfL) pursues its current policies, there may soon be
massive numbers of speed cameras enforcing 20 mph zones. Indeed there may
well be a speed camera on every street corner in a few years time. TfL are
already testing average speed cameras to enforce 20 mph zones in two London
boroughs, with more to follow. They may well be rolled out over the whole of
London in due course. There could be a spy camera monitoring your every
movement in a few years (and they won’t be used solely for speed
enforcement) which is a massive threat to civil liberty.
Not
Opposed to 20 MPH Zones
Note that
the ABD does not oppose 20 mph speed limits in residential zones, where the
streets are narrow and traffic is likely to adhere to the speed limit. But
we do oppose enforcement by speed cameras. There is little evidence that
such measures improve road safety on top of the use of simple signage and
minor traffic engineering works. Indeed, the use of average speed cameras is
likely to be used as a simple revenue raising measure, supported by those
who have a fixation on traffic speed rather than a real focus on road
safety.
Opposition to the “Surveillance Society”
We
are strongly opposed to the spread of surveillance of the public by cameras,
and the invasion of privacy that this entails. The UK has more surveillance
of the population by cameras than almost any other country, with 4.2m
cameras in total (one for every 14 people).
London is an extreme example of this with 780 speed cameras,
several hundred that monitor the Congestion Charge zone, and thousands of
other cameras used for traffic management, bus lane enforcement, yellow box
junction enforcement, parking bay enforcement, and security measures.
According to a report published in 2010 by the Surveillance Studies Network,
the UK is the most monitored industrial Western country because we have
looser privacy and data protection laws. Even the Government’s Information
Commissioner has warned that Britain is sleepwalking into a “surveillance
society” and people need to be made more aware of the "creeping
encroachment" on civil liberties created by CCTV monitoring.
Penalising Motorists by Excessive Fines
London motorists already face large fines from parking
offences, bus lane and other moving traffic infringements (many generated by
camera systems) to fund other expenditure including concessionary fares such
as the “Freedom Pass”. In some London boroughs, they generate millions of
pounds of profits from parking and traffic offences and rely on this revenue
as a source of general funding, despite this being legally very
questionable. Many of the cameras mentioned above are used to issue fines
automatically for minor and often accidental infringements of the
regulations. For example, yellow box junction cameras have been shown not
to improve the flow of traffic at such junctions but councils and Transport
for London (TfL) persist in using them because they generate revenue that
far exceeds the cost of operating them. These cameras are not just used for
the purpose for which they were originally installed - they are used for
other purposes. So for example, the Congestion Charge cameras have been used
in general law enforcement - not just to enforce the congestion tax. Average
speed cameras will be yet another step in the process of extracting money
from motorists for accidental infringements of minor technical offences, and
is based on the hatred of car drivers by some sections of the community.
Go
here for more information: www.no20cameras.org
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