Article from: www.thenewspaper.com/news/00/33.asp
12/14/2004
Buckingham Speed Camera Study
UK/Australia study shows speed cameras reversed a decades-long trend toward fewer accidents.
Dr. Alan Buckingham of Bath Spa University College in England examined the safety data for speed cameras in both the UK and Australia. His results, published in the Australian journal Policy, show that speed camera usage actually reversed a decades-long trend toward fewer accidents.
Key Statistic:
If the 1966-1993 trend line had continued until 2001 there would have been 825 fewer fatalities in that year than were actually recorded. If we correlate the increasing 'fatality gap' caused by the divergence between the 1966-1993 and 1993-2001 trend lines with the rise in speeding convictions by speed cameras since 1993 we obtain an almost perfect correlation of +.97. In other words, there is an almost perfect linear relationship between the increase in speed camera tickets and the increase in the fatality gap.
Article Excerpt:The net result of years of speed cameras in Britain and Australia is that road speeds have not slowed significantly, the downward trend in serious accidents and fatalities has been almost totally lost, hundreds of thousands of the safest drivers are convicted each year and the goodwill between law abiding citizens and the police is evaporating. In the midst of all this, British and Australian State governments are selling their speed campaigns as a great success. Don't believe it.
Source: Speed Traps: Saving Lives or Raising Revenue? (Policy, 11/12/2003)
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