A speeding motorist has been fined £500 and given six penalty points for travelling at nearly double the speed limit through the average speed cameras on the A228 Isle of Grain in Rochester.
Barry Maplesden, 51, of Dobbie Close, Sittingbourne, appeared at Medway Magistrates Court on 15 November charged with driving at 78mph in the 40mph limit on 2 August this year.
Katherine Barrett, Communications Officer for the Kent & Medway Safety Camera Partnership said: “The average speed cameras were installed to reduce casualties on this stretch of road. The cameras are clearly visible and signed, so this was a blatant disregard of the speed limit and of the safety of other road users. Driving at 78mph in a 40mph is not an accident. Exceeding the speed limit, even marginally, can have devastating effects and this is a particular slap in the face to the victims of collisions that occurred on this stretch of road.”
The average speed camera system was installed along the A228 in 2007 because, despite of a number of measures to reduce casualties, people were still being killed and seriously injured in road traffic crashes. In the three years before the system went in there were 46 personal injury crashes, with 14 of these being people killed or seriously injured (KSI). Since installation, this figure has been reduced to 3 KSIs.
NOTES
* SPECS (SPEed Check enforcement System) is a digital safety camera system providing point-to-point speed enforcement based on calculation of average speed.
* Before the cameras were installed 80% of motorists were exceeding the speed limit. Speed surveys carried out at the beginning of the year show that only 7% of traffic is now exceeding the limit.