After it emerged that all of Suffolk’s fixed speed cameras had been switched off, road safety concerns have gained a voice.
More than £1m of funding for the speed cameras – some on key accident black spots on the A14, A140 and A12 – was pulled by Suffolk County Council earlier this year and Suffolk police has decided they are too expensive to keep running.
On 1 July, the two speed cameras that still worked – out of nine across the county – were switched off although the boxes are still in place. The chairman of Suffolk Police Authority has said she was “personally very upset” at the situation while a parish council said it regretted the loss of a camera on the A12 that had “saved lives”.
In January, Suffolk County Council had voted to pull out of the Suffolk Safecam partnership. It stopped any funding in April and said it would cease speed camera operations by the start of July.
Suffolk police looked into trying to keep the fixed cameras running but said the cost of maintenance was too much, especially as many of them were in a state of disrepair or had stopped working. It said it had taken sole control of mobile speed cameras, which would continue.
But Joanna Spicer, chairman of Suffolk Police Authority, said there had been “confusion over the ownership of fixed cameras” and that members had only been made aware of the situation at a meeting on June 24, days before the cameras were due to be switched off.
On 22 July, the matter will now be discussed at the next meeting of the police authority.
Suffolk County Council confirmed that “all assets and liabilities” relating to speed cameras had been transferred to the police on 30 June.