The Oxford Times
Thursday 11th August 2011Camera turn-off appears to have made speeding worse, say police
Thom AirsThe officer in charge of roads policing in Oxford said new figures suggested that drivers had become more inclined to break the limit since speed cameras were switched off in the county.
The figures show the number of people caught speeding past fixed camera sites in Oxfordshire has more than doubled following the shutdown of cameras between last August and this April.
The switch-off came because of Oxfordshire County Council's decision to withdraw its £600,000 annual funding of the body that operates cameras.
In the three months from April this year,10,898 motorists were caught speeding by cameras in Oxfordshire.
In the same three-month period in 2010 - before the cameras were temporarily turned off - 5,010 were caught over the limit.
Chief Inspector Gill Wootton of Thames Valley Roads Policing said: "These figures would suggest there may have been a change in drivers' behaviour between the time the speed cameras were switched off and April when they were turned back on.
"However, the number of drivers being caught by the cameras has declined month-on-month since they were switched back on.
"Thames Valley Police maintains that speed cameras are one of a number of important road safety tools which help to reduce the risk of serious injury and fatal collisions and their reactivation encourages drivers to think about the speed they are driving."
Overall, 4,962 speeding drivers were caught on camera in Oxfordshire in April, falling to 3,375 in May and down again to 2,561 in June.
In 2010 the April figure was 1,976, the May tally was 1,193 and 1,841 tickets were handed out in June.