Speed cameras were first used for enforcement in Great Britain in 1992 as recommended by a review of road traffic law in 1988. Their rollout was accelerated between 2001 and 2005 in a national safety camera programme under the ‘safer speeds’ theme of the road safety strategy 2000-2010. Speed camera partnerships — joint ventures between police forces, highway authorities and magistrates’ courts — were formed to do this and have since taken on a wider role as road safety partnerships. This report pulls together a range of analyses on the effectiveness of speed cameras, and some more recent data, to provide a considered and comprehensive assessment of their contribution to road safety. The sources of information include the four-year camera evaluation report published in December 2005; related work by Mountain, Hirst and Maher; studies in London; national statistics on traffic speeds, collisions and casualties and international research on relations between them; and recent figures from road safety partnerships. (Author/publisher)
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