Get more officers patrolling
Like Shirley Tart I was caught by a speed camera three years ago and cannot complain or claim to be a special case. As a former police officer who served for 30 years I know the law and know what to expect when it is broken.
But, having been involved in over 100 road death investigations, I question a policy that cut the number of traffic officers while increasing machines that deal with only one aspect of bad driving.
My experience leads me to believe that the worst drivers are rarely caught by cameras. They keep their vehicles for a few weeks and pass them on, failing to tax, insure, MoT or register them. Unless they are un-lucky enough to be stopped by an officer their speeding offences are written off.
My experience leads me to believe that it is conduct far beyond that of a driver who, like Shirley, drives at 35mph in the 30mph limit, which causes death and injury.
The two age extremes are a danger: the boy racer and the very elderly driver no longer able to cope with modern road conditions.
Overtaking on double white lines or tailgating at speed, how many drivers are prosecuted? I could go on.
The camera partnership regularly releases statistics intended to prove the effectiveness of the scheme. But I would challenge them to answer this.
When a car blasts through a camera site at high speed how much effort is put into tracing the driver if the registered keeper sold the vehicle some months ago, and how many are caught?
John Trott, Telford
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