Speed cameras 'raise £65m a year'
Speed cameras raise more than £65m a year, it has been claimed
Speed cameras raise more than £65m a year, it has been claimed
Fixed penalty fines from speed camera partnership schemes raise more than £65 million a year, according to new figures.
Including court fines collected from speeding and red light offences, total annual speeding fines stand at £87.3 million, the TaxPayers' Alliance and the Drivers' Alliance said.
The groups also said published figures showed that road casualty numbers have declined at a slower rate since speed cameras were introduced in the early 1990s compared with the rate before then.
The figures showed a total of £87,368,227 was collected in fines for speeding and red light offences caught on speed cameras in the financial period 2008-09 in the UK. This includes fines from magistrates' courts for speeding offences and neglect of traffic directions, such as lane offences, in 2008.
The total includes £65,748,850 from fixed penalties detected by cameras operated by safety camera partnerships in England and Wales.
It also includes £19,214,594 in fines from magistrates' courts for speeding offences and neglect of traffic directions in calendar year 2008 in England and Wales.
The Scottish courts in 2008-09 collected £1,641,630 for speeding offences and £763,153 came from fixed penalties detected by speed cameras in Northern Ireland.
The two organisations said it could be estimated that 1,555,244 more road casualties occurred between 1991-2007 than would have if the 1978-1990 casualty trend had continued.
TaxPayers' Alliance chief executive Matthew Elliott said: "Motorists have long suspected that speed cameras are more about raising money than keeping the roads safe.
"These findings show that the state has been squeezing a fortune out of people using these cameras, but if anything the rate of reduction in casualty numbers has slowed. The whole country should follow the example of Swindon, which has scrapped cameras altogether. People are sick of being fined under the guise of road safety."
