Town switches off speed cameras

Brake has described the decision to scrap the cameras as "reckless"

Swindon has become the first English authority to scrap the use of its fixed speed cameras.

The Conservative-run borough council said it was reinvesting the £320,000 a year maintenance costs for the five cameras in road safety measures.

The move does not mean the town will be left without any speed cameras as Wiltshire Police will continue to operate mobile units.

The decision has been called "reckless" by the road safety charity, Brake.

All these devices do is take pictures of people breaking the speed limit, they're not actually managing the speeds Peter Greenhalgh

The deactivated cameras will be replaced with vehicle-activated signs.

"Because the amount of money we were putting into cameras wasn't delivering the results we required, we decided to make the focus road safety rather than enforcement," said Conservative councillor Peter Greenhalgh.

"We'll be working with the road safety partnership, investing in education programmes [and] working with the Institute of Advanced Motorists to improve driver training facilities and with schools and colleges.

"We are also trying to deliver improved programmes for drivers who have been caught transgressing the speed limits," he said.

"At the end of the day all these devices do is take pictures of people breaking the speed limit, they're not actually managing the speeds and they're not educating people."

Tim Shallcross, from the Institute of Advanced Motorists, said: "Cameras are not the total solution and 10 out of 10 really to Swindon for reviewing the expenditure that they put into the budget for road safety.

"If Swindon can show that they have produced a definite reduction in casualties by diverting the money to other resources from some cameras, then that's setting a good example for others to follow."

But Helena Houghton from Brake said: "We're strongly opposed to the decision. We think it's a dangerous experiment with people's lives.

"By removing speed cameras you are removing a deterrent. They are crucial in lowering death and injury rates."