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Safety cameras are used to make roads safer
and save lives, not to make money or catch motorists out. The
Highway Authorities (Kent County Council, Medway Council and
the Highways Agency) explore all possible alternatives to improve
road safety along a stretch of road before resorting to the
use of a safety camera. Even then our cameras can only be placed
at sites where there has been a history of people killed or
seriously injured in speed related crashes.
Cameras are not placed on roads where they
will make the most money. Cameras are there to encourage motorists
to drive within the legal speed limit, so the most successful
cameras are those which record the least number of offences
not the most.
How and when cameras are deployed depends
on the crash history and road safety problem at each location.
The cameras pictured below are
the only ones that the Partnership looks after in your county.
For information about how each of these cameras work click
here.
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are used at sites where there has been
a history of people killed or seriously injured in speed
related crashes. |
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are used at sites where there has been
a history of people killed or seriously injured in speed
related crashes. |
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are used at sites where there has been
a history of people killed or seriously injured in speed
related crashes. |
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Average
speed cameras (SPECS) are more frequently used
as a temporary measure during roadworks to protect both
the work force on site and the motorists (see below for
more information). SPECS are also used at a permanent site
on the A228 Grain, Medway, where there has been a history
of people killed or seriously injured in speed related crashes.
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Until the end of March 2007 all safety cameras adhered to the criteria set out by the Department for Transport. The policy that the Kent & Medway Safety Camera Partnership adheres to for cameras installed after 1 April 2025 is as follows:
1. The principle reason for the use of safety camera enforcement is to reduce crashes. Therefore in each case the most current 3-year personal injury crash record should be carefully analysed to assess each case.
2. Consistent with the previous Department of Transport’s (DfT) handbook all new potential camera sites must reach a minimum points score. This is 22/km in built up areas (roads subject to a 40mph speed limit or below), and 18/km in non built up areas (roads subject to speed limits above and including 50mph). Where a minimum of 3 KSI (killed or serious injury) crashes per km have been reported. The scoring system is 5 points for a KSI and 1 point for a slight injury crash.
3. Where dual carriageway roads are being considered each carriageway must be analysed and scored separately.
4. For routes between 5km and 20km the requirements are as follows:-
5. Within the route concerned there should be a minimum of 3 existing sites or:-
6. For roads with an AADT (Annual Average Daily Total) of above 25,000 vehicles there should firstly be a minimum of 3 KSI’s /km in a three year study period, averaged along the length of road in question. Then a minimum points score of 22/km in built up areas and, 18/km in non built up areas, averaged along the length in question.
7. For sites below 25,000 AADT at least 1 KSI /km averaged along the length in question, in the three year study period. Then a minimum points score of 8/km in built up areas and, 6/km in non built up areas again averaged over the study length.
8. Having achieved the required score an analysis of the crash record should be carried out to confirm that speed related crashes are present and that it is clear that the introduction of a camera should result in a reduction in that type of collision. The level of speed related crashes could then be used to enhance the scheme’s priority to ensure that funding is directed at the sites with the greatest savings potential.
9. Once a site has been selected for funding an assessment should be made as to the appropriate method of enforcement i.e. fixed or mobile.
10. For red light enforcement at signal controlled junctions the provision of a red light camera would require that: - at least three crashes on any one arm of the junction indicate that a “failure to comply” with the signals was a contributory factor in the reported crashes.
11. The use of safety cameras should be seen as a last resort measure once all other justifiable solutions have been exhausted.
12. The speed limit covered by a camera must be properly signed to ensure that enforcement can be carried out.
13. Site inspections should ensure that the loading and unloading of the camera can take place safely.
14. The selected location for mobile enforcement is easily accessible and there is space for enforcement to take place in a visible and safe manner.
15. Housings should be painted yellow
16. All sites must be signed with sufficient signing to warn drivers of the presence of camera enforcement.
Research
(from the Highways Agency) shows that at sites where major
road works are being carried out, the number of crashes
occurring increases compared to the situation on the same
stretch of road without the road works. The use of cameras
to enforce a temporary speed limit reduces this figure
to the level that existed before the road works were initiated.
Did you know?
Every year a large number of road workers are killed in
road works, so cameras are used to enforce temporary speed
limits to protect the workers from vehicles travelling
at excess speeds through the works.
* 1,500 people on motorways and trunk roads were injured
in roadworks during the year 2000 in more than 800 crashes.
many other collisions go unreported. (Source:
TRL 2000)
* 11 roadworkers were killed in roadworks on motorways
and trunk roads in England between October 2000 and february
2002. (Source: HSE 2002).
* According to research by Dr Stephen Roberts reported
in The Lancet, roadworkers have the 16th most hazardous
occupation in Great Britain - higher even than military
personnel!
A temporary speed limit is used by highway authorities
because:
* The temporary road surface may have low skid resistance
- coupled with poor weather conditions this could
prove dangerous.
* There may be no road markings (white lines), cat’s
eyes, narrow lanes or contra flows. If the works are on
the motorway there may be no hard shoulder.
* Drivers may be hesitating if junctions or turnings have
been temporarily closed.
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