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Online new articles confirm public contempt
for Dorset Road Safe
http://www.bournemouthecho.co.uk/news/8818021._We_re_all_about_saving_lives__say_speed_camera_bosses/
http://www.bournemouthecho.co.uk/news/8818913.__1m_a_year_from_one_speed_camera/
There were 2 articles in the Echo over the weekend,
in which Pat Garrett attempted to tell us “his only concern is saving lives”. I
hope it doesn’t come as too much of a shock to you Mr Garrett but the public
don’t seem to believe you. Even the very few regular “pro camera” contributors
fail to make any useful points or back them up. The only remaining opinions are
that all you are concerned with is making money. And this is why you are failing
to achieve anywhere near the casualty reduction targets.
“Since 2006 there has been a disappointing increase
in KSI casualties. The county is currently 10% below the 1994-98 KSI base
figure, which is behind target and places Dorset in the lower quartile of
performance across GB.”
http://www.dorsetforyou.com/media.jsp?mediaid=139747&filetype=pdf
“In 2008, there were 442 road casualties per 100,000
people in Dorset, the highest rate in SW counties and unitaries (SW 368, England
397). Bournemouth (420) & Poole (403) had the 4th and 5th highest proportions,
respectively, among South West county and unitary authorities.”
http://www.gosw.gov.uk/497666/docs/220636/309014/dorsstatbrf.doc
What a surprise. 2006 was about the time that DRS
started pushing “driver awareness courses” so they could keep a large amount of
the money that was meant to be going to the government to remove the temptation
for local authorities to use enforcements to make money. Other counties have
similar problems so to substantially under perform them really is bad.
Why can’t you provide answers to any of my
questions, Mr Garrett? For example: Why is it dangerous to drive through the
greed on green junction at 35, and safe to drive across the roundabout just at
the other end of Holes Bay where there is an unprotected ped crossing without
lights, or even through the busy commercial area near PC World (without a proper
ped crossing over the main road), at 50? Why were you unable to provide any
evidence of any relevant “community concern” whatsoever under FOI? If you can
answer those, I have many more for you, that you have refused to answer over the
years. Why was is safe to drive at 70 on the A3049 a week ago and now it’s
dangerous to drive at 51?
How can you talk such complete rubbish? (concerning
the greed on green):
“There are numerous reasons why this speed limit is
in place – you have housing," - no you don't
"a multi-junction" - so what, there are junctions
all over the place with higher limits,
"Asda " - that junction (still nowhere near the
shop) is about 600ft away, you can brake from 60 about 3 times over!
"and you are going into town which is a 30mph
limit." - and so it should be. And that's where all the chavs race around
because there's not one of your silly yellow boxes every 30 yards on every road!
Actually Mr Garrett, don’t bother to answer, (I
don’t expect you were going to anyway). We have gone well past the point that it
makes sense for DRS to try to justify it’s own existence, we need to hear from
the Council, the Police (the proper ones), and the DfT why they are prolonging
this wasteful, damaging, dangerous folly while cutting proper policing. The only
reason that you’ve got away with it for so long is that these other
organisations have largely shown a similar level of disinterest in common sense
solutions to save lives. That’s why there must be continued action against all
this until it starts sinking in and improvements are made.
Anyone in any doubt should read the comments in the
articles. Here’s a taster:
“Pat Garrett and his collection of sycophants are
nothing but the troops, the grunts or mindless automatons who repeat what
they're told and sadly do believe it. The generals are the MD's and CEO's of all
these big companies who're cashing in on all this fear mongering hype by
flogging ever more expensive yet increasingly less effective gadgets to gullible
councillors every couple of years.”
The results prove that Dorset Road Safe has
seriously failed, and the reasons are obvious and abundant. Not only that, they
have continued to fail over many years, while it has been pointed out to them,
the council, the DfT and the police over and over again why they are failing.
How many have died who should not have over these years? Continuing with this is
starting to look like serious negligence.
Now, can we please shut down DRS and speed cameras
and their £2.5 million cost per year in Dorset, and do something productive with
the money instead, which must include effective and proportionate enforcements
of all driving problems (including of realistic speed limits).
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