Archived decisions
THE SAFETY CAMERA PARTNERSHIP FOR HAMPSHIRE AND THE ISLE OF WIGHT
1. The Authority has been pleased to receive a progress report regarding the multi-agency Safety Camera Partnership of which the Constabulary is a member together with Magistrates, the Highway Authorities and the Highway Agency.
2. In 1996, the Police Research Group published a paper detailing a cost-benefit analysis of fixed site speed cameras. The results showed significant and consistent casualty reduction, averaging about one third at camera sites, with a one mile per hour reduction in speed correlating to a 5% reduction in casualties.
3. In July, 1997, in partnership with Hampshire County Council, the Hampshire Constabulary introduced the first speed camera (mobile) on the A325 together with the appropriate camera enforcement signs.
4. In March, 1998, an additional ten casualty routes were commissioned and two additional mobile cameras purchased.
5. The partnership now includes the councils of Portsmouth, Southampton and the Isle of Wight with four mobile cameras on the mainland and one on the Isle of Wight.
6. The casualties on the camera routes have been consistently below the baseline figures for the partnership area, averaging a reduction in the region of 12%.
7. The Chief Constable has stressed that the Partnership Strategy is founded on deterrent and road casualty prevention rather than detection and that the fixed site speed cameras will be located on high casualty routes at high risk locations. The success of the Safety Camera Operation will be judged solely on the casualty reductions achieved and not on the number of conditional Fixed Penalties issued. All income from fixed penalty notices will be used to fund the Safety Camera Operation. The public are being kept well informed at every opportunity, through a dedicated media services officer, of the location of the cameras and the casualty reduction objectives of the partnership.
8. The Authority has been pleased to support the Constabulary's membership of the partnership particularly as it offers direct support to one of the Constabulary's main strategic objectives of reducing road casualties, and the Government's casualty reduction target of 40% reduction in the killed and seriously injured by the year 2010.
9. The Chief Constable will be submitting a progress report to the Authority on a six monthly basis for the foreseeable future.
SIMON HAYES
Chairman
4IR121102