Speed camera snares 7,000 drivers

A SINGLE speed camera has snared more than 7,000 motorists in the last three years.

Drivers have been caught breaking the speed limit on Birmingham’s Bristol Road, between Priory Road and Speedwell Road, 7,081 times between 2016 and 2018.

This was closely followed by a camera in New John Street West – part of the middle ring road between Lucas Circus and Hospital Street, in Newtown – which clocked 6,711 speeding motorists.

Another on the same road, between Hospital Street and Lucas Circus, was the third most active camera in the West Midlands, resulting in 3,698 fixed penalty notices being dished out.

Data was gathered from a Freedom of Information request to West Midlands Police, which operates the fixed speed cameras on behalf of local authorities.

Wolverhampton Liberal Democrat campaigner, Nick MachnikFoster, has questioned whether the cameras are actually helping to make the region’s roads safer.

“I think these speed cameras have been turned more into a cash cow rather than a deterrent,” he said. “Local councils and police commissioners need to look at these sites again to see if they are actually reducing speed and making our roads safer. We need to be curbing speed and dangerous driving and not ensnaring thousands of pretty law-abiding drivers.”

David Jamieson, Police Commissioner for the West Midlands, has insisted there is evidence to suggest the cameras have encouraged people to kill their speed.