It is 20 years since these yellow Cyclopes were introduced to make our roads a safer place.  Well they have changed the way we drive but what have they achieved?  Roger Reynolds was the policeman in charge of the initial project, and he thinks “It’s a fiasco now”.

The first one was located on the A316, a road I know well.  It has a 40mph limit, but is a fast dual carriageway.  Initially, the cameras were set to only trip at 60mph and to curb the worst excesses.  The initial trial was set up on the Thames bridge and it recorded 22,939 drivers travelling at more than 65mph in 22 days.  The public were happy to support the initiative at this kind of level. 

One camera became 750 in the London area.  In 2000 600,000 motorists were caught, by 2007 it was 1,800,000!  At this level the fines were worth over £100m, and this began to change the focus.  As motorists grew used to them, the fines fell, and in order to maintain the money-flow, the trigger speeds were turned down from 40mph to 32mph!  In one spot on the M11 southbound one camera netted over £500k, but caused more accidents than before!

The public no longer supported this secret tax on motorists and guerrilla groups even began sabotaging them.  In 2007 the grant to local authorities for these cameras was cut and they were quick to realise that their electorate would prefer their taxes to be spent on other things and they were cut back once more.  Mr Reynolds, still believes they are a good safety tool but feels the way they have been used is wrong.

It isn’t enough to have a good tool, you have to use it in the right way if you are going to keep people on your side.  People have an innate sense of fairness and if you go against this you will loose their support.

“It ain’t what you do, it’s the way that you do it..”  Banarama