Scotland's Speed Cameras Are Too Effective

Glenn Swanson
by Glenn Swanson

According to The Scotsman, speed cameras fines fell by as much twenty percent in some areas of Scotland. In most parts of the country, the number of drivers being caught by cameras has dropped for the third year in a row. The director of the Scottish Safety Camera Program says he knows why: "There has been a fall in speeding fines detected by cameras because of better adherence to the speed limits by drivers." Math-savvy anti-camera groups claim crash rates diminish naturally over time "due a phenomenon known as regression to mean." Bruce Young of the Association of British Drivers says it's simpler than that. "Drivers are increasingly aware of both fixed and mobile camera locations." Neil Greig, the of the Institute of Advanced Motorists' Motoring Trust, says who cares? Speed cameras rock! "In our view the best safety cameras slow 100 percent of the traffic down and catch zero per cent of drivers." In any case, over the past two years, Scottish police [automatically] issued 114k fines, generating some £6.8m ($13.4m) for the Treasury.

Glenn Swanson
Glenn Swanson

Glenn is a baby-boomer, born in 1954. Along with his wife, he makes his home in Connecticut. Employed in the public sector as an Information Tedchnology Specialist, Glenn has long been a car fan. Past rides have included heavy iron such as a 1967 GTO, to a V8 T-Bird. In between those high-horsepower cars, he's owned a pair of BMW 320i's. Now, with a daily commute of 40 miles, his concession to MPG dictates the ownership of a 2006 Honda Civic coupe which, while fun to drive, is a modest car for a pistonhead. As an avid reader, Glenn enjoys TTAC, along with many other auto-realated sites, and the occasional good book. As an avid electronic junkie, Glenn holds an Advanced Class amateur ("ham") radio license, and is into many things electronic. From a satellite radio and portable GPS unit in the cars, to a modest home theater system and radio-intercom in his home, if it's run by the movement of electrons, he's interested. :-)

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 4 comments
  • Anonymous Anonymous on Apr 10, 2008

    I guess they'll just have to raise the fines to make up for the lost "revenue stream."

  • Zerofoo Zerofoo on Apr 10, 2008

    I'd be curious to see if the accident rate dropped with the reduction in speeders. If the accident/fatality rate doesn't fall or goes up, there might be an argument against these types of speed cameras. -ted

  • Ryan Knuckles Ryan Knuckles on Apr 10, 2008

    What do you do when you aren't dominating the cat and mouse game? Get a better cat. And they will keep winning until people start fighting back.

  • SpottyB SpottyB on Apr 10, 2008

    I suppose if you have a need for speed in Scotland you don the cap & sunglasses and borrow a friend's car... Funny how whenever I read something about Scotland all I can think about is the quote from Longshanks in Braveheart : "The trouble with Scotland is it's full of Scots!" Ohh, that rabble rouser Longshanks....

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