Accelerated Roll-Out Of Speed Cameras Costs Motorists £144.6 Million Each Year

26 per cent increase in speed cameras in past 12 months led to £700,000 rise in fines for motorists*

Speeding led to an increase in motor insurance premiums of £30million** last year Yet 40% of motorists believe it is still acceptable to speed when roads are quiet

The number of speed cameras on Britain’s roads increased by a dramatic 26 per cent between 2005 and 2006, resulting in a £700,000 rise in fixed penalty notice fines. And nearly two million (1,910,474) fixed penalty notice fines for speeding offences were paid by motorists in England and Wales - the equivalent of one in twelve motorists - totaling £114.6 million last year.

However, the fines are having little impact on motorists’ speeding habits according to the swiftcover.com ‘Speed Cameras and Speeding Drivers Report 2007’, prepared by Datamonitor for the 100 per cent online insurance provider. Forty per cent of motorists still believe it is acceptable to speed when a road is quiet.

Double-whammy of fines and inflated insurance premiums
Although four in five motorists (79 per cent) had a clean licence before they received a speeding conviction, the majority of motorists also have to fork out for increased car insurance premiums in addition to the official fine following a speeding conviction. swiftcover.com calculates the additional cost of insurance for those caught by speed cameras as £30 million - meaning speed cameras actually cost the nation’s drivers £144.6 million each year.

Big Brother replaces local bobby
However, as the number of speed cameras nationwide continues to rise, the level of speeding convictions handled by police has actually declined, with speeding offences dealt with by official police action falling by 6 per cent from 2003 to 2,075,681 in 2004.

Andrew Blowers, Chief Executive at swiftcover, comments: "Despite the steadily increasing number of speed cameras on our roads, it seems motorists are still happy to flout the threat of fines if they feel the road conditions are safe.

"Motorists are not only forking out more than ever before in speeding fines but are also fiscally penalised twice through increased car insurance premiums following a conviction. Our experience shows that drivers with one conviction are just as safe as those with none, and swiftcover.com does not charge extra for those unfortunate enough to have been caught once."

Average speed cameras most effective deterrent
In contrast to speed cameras’ original safety intentions, over one in two drivers (53 per cent) believe standard speed cameras encourage people to drive more erratically and a further 56 per cent admit to ‘yo-yo driving (speeding up between cameras) themselves. In addition 69 per cent of respondents also believe that drivers are less focussed on road hazards when there are speed cameras.

However, three quarters (74 per cent) of drivers say they usually drive through entire ‘average speed camera’ areas, where cameras measure a car’s average speed between two points, at the correct speed limit. In contrast, less than one in five (18 per cent) motorists say they have been encouraged to drive within the speed limit on all roads since such cameras have become widespread, with another 26% who do so just on roads they know have cameras.

The relentless rise in the number of speed cameras varies significantly across Britain, with Londoners bearing the brunt of this increase: 705 of the total 5,559 speed cameras nationwide are located in London, an increase of 464 per cent from 2005 and the equivalent of nine cameras per square mile
Lancashire has the second highest number of speed cameras with 354 cameras
There are just 25 cameras monitoring motorists’ speeds in Surrey