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I served as a police officer for 30 years and from 1997-2000 supervised all road death investigations in Shropshire - more than 100 of them.
I agree with the general tone of the views expressed in your article (There's gold in them there speed cameras, last week). In my experience the main causes of deaths and serious injury on the road do not include slight infringements of the speed limit. The causes I would most readily identify are: the careless right turn, aggressive high-speed driving, the born-again biker, poor vehicle maintenance, drink-driving and the very elderly driver.
I have to admit that I have recently had the misfortune to incur points on my licence for the first time in 40 years' driving as the result of a speed camera. I would not object if I believed the cameras made a substantial contribution to road safety. However, having first-hand knowledge of where the serious collisions are likely to occur, I know that many of the selected camera sites are anything but black spots.
I conclude that revenue, rather than safety, is the prime motivation.
(name witheld)
Shropshire
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"Four youths from Canberra, Australia pulled off a trick of breathtaking bravado in order to gain revenge on a mobile speed camera van operating in the area.
Three of the group approached the van and distracted the operator's attention by asking a series of questions about how the equipment worked and how many cars the operator could catch in a day. Meanwhile, the fourth musketeer sneaked to the front of the van and unscrewed its number plate.
After bidding the van operator goodbye, the friends returned home, fixed the number plate to their car and drove through the camera's radar at high speed - 17 times. As a result, the automated billing system issued 17 speeding tickets to itself."
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