Recent reports have revealed that 300 speed cameras in the West Midlands are to be turned off on the 1st April as councils look to cut costs due to no longer receiving Government funding for the devices.
Many of the cameras are reaching the end of their user life anyway, with spare parts harder to find for the older cameras that use film. In the West Midlands a number of councils have cut their budget £1.93 million this year to £750,000 in 2011-12. Replacing existing cameras would cost £4 million.
The switch off was welcomed by Claire Armstrong of Safespeed. She said "We are extremely encouraged that councils are deciding to consider better engineering solutions than speed cameras.
"It will assist drivers to concentrate on the road rather than their speedometer. We need to ensure that motorists should always think about the task of driving as this is crucial to recognising hazards which cause accidents. We would like to see all inactive cameras covered, showing that the devices are not in use."
But Andrew Howard, the AA’s head of road safety offered a rebuttal, stating "Without cameras, there will be little to deter people from speeding and we would hope the authority can find another way of funding them as soon as possible."