A study by Which? has found that less than half of all speed cameras in the country are actually working at any one time.
The study, which was pursued through the Freedom of Information Act, questioned all 43 police forces in England and Wales and found that just 44.7% of all cameras were working though there were huge variations throughout the country. Some forces; Sussex, Cumbria and West Mercia, said all their cameras were working whilst Gloucestershire, Staffordshire, Derbyshire and Thames Valley reported just 11-12% of their cameras were working.
Some forces, including Hertfordshire, Dorset and Suffolk, refused to answer whilst Which? was still awaiting data from the West Yorkshire force. News of the Which? report follows the government cutting by 40% the money given to councils to fund road safety. Despite many of the cameras being used without film in a bid to save costs, the government insists that the empty shells were still useful in acting as a deterrent and says that without cameras the death toll would rise by about a 100 each year.
Katie Shephard, from Brake, the road safety charity, supports the view, saying: “They help to stem the huge cost to the economy of road death and injury.”
