Greed on green camera did make a £ million in a year!

The speed camera statistics for last year are now available on the Dorset Road Safe website. In addition to the 7373 nips raised in the first few months, 14247 were raised in the full year 2010/11. Assuming that only about a third of these contributed to the 20,000 sent on courses last year at £100, and the remaining paying £60, the total would have exceeded a £ million.

And this for an enforcement at a location with a 0 KSI count since DRS records began 12 years ago, on a good dual carriageway with a ridiculous 30 limit.

There have been various reports about what will happen with this camera, starting with shutting it down as the authorities could not afford it, (work that one out), through moving it to somewhere with a “more pressing casualty reduction need”, and now it seems it will stay but with a higher speed of detection! So Dorset Road Safe are now telling us it’s ok to speed! Perhaps it will make more money on the Holes Bay even with a higher detection speed, than it will somewhere else where it might be possible to reduce KSI. If I’m wrong about this DRS, please let us know.

It would be difficult to make up a story of such greed, incompetence, and indecision. And we have the same “road safety experts” in Dorset in place today. Heaven help us.

And it’s not just about making the wrong road safety decisions due to the irresistible financial motivations. Dorset police are refusing to tell us what the £813,000 “cost” of providing the courses is spent on. This is our money, Dorset Police, not yours. Tell us what you are doing with it.

It is shocking that those who are meant to serve and protect the public are behaving in such a way, and that the councils are STILL spending nearly a £ million on Dorset Road Safe this year. Dorset Police / Councils / Road Safe refuse to communicate about these issues, this does not indicate honesty and competence.

The greed on green camera is the inevitable result of allowing money, targets, jobs, etc. to rule decisions on road safety, rather than common sense and saving life.