Skip to main content

Brake speaks out to support UK motorway speed cameras

Responding to reports that the UK Highways Agency is to roll out speed cameras on stretches of ‘smart’ motorways, road safety charity Brake has spoken in support of the proposal. Julie Townsend, deputy chief executive, Brake, the road safety charity, said: "Speed cameras are an extremely well evidenced, cost-effective way to improve safety and reduce deaths and injuries on roads where they are placed, preventing families going through the trauma of a sudden bereavement or life-changing injury. Put simpl
February 4, 2014 Read time: 2 mins
Responding to reports that the 1841 UK Highways Agency is to roll out speed cameras on stretches of ‘smart’ motorways, road safety charity 4235 Brake has spoken in support of the proposal.

Julie Townsend, deputy chief executive, Brake, the road safety charity, said: "Speed cameras are an extremely well evidenced, cost-effective way to improve safety and reduce deaths and injuries on roads where they are placed, preventing families going through the trauma of a sudden bereavement or life-changing injury. Put simply: speed cameras reduce speeding, which helps to prevent deadly crashes. Breaking the speed limit is risky and illegal, so only drivers who break the law will face fines."

The cameras are to be installed as part of the UK Highways Agency Digital Enforcement Camera System (HADECS 3) managed motorway project to support the implementation of mandatory variable speed limits on selected motorways, in an effort to keep traffic flowing and increasing motorway capacity. Police already have the powers to enforce the 70 mph motorway speed limit.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Bogotá’s affordable path to safer roads
    April 28, 2022
    Enforcing speed limits on key corridors is a cost-effective way of reducing collisions in the Colombian capital, say the authors of a new study. Andrew Stone talks to them
  • Europe’s road safety record suffers as austerity bites hard, traffic police chiefs are told at TISPOL 2017
    March 7, 2018
    Europe’s leading traffic police chiefs are struggling with the challenge of how best to manage the region’s road network in an era of austerity. Things are changing fast, and not for the better, reports Geoff Hadwick. Europe’s road safety record is under threat. Police budgets are being slashed, staff numbers are falling and a long-term trend towards ever-fewer road deaths has ground to a halt. The line on the graph has flat-lined. Does Europe’s road network face a far more dangerous future? Lower and
  • Substantial savings from smarter street lighting
    February 25, 2015
    As authorities strive to reduce expenditure and carbon emissions, Colin Sowman looks at some of the smart ways of managing street lighting while containing costs and maintaining safety. Street lighting can account for 40% of an authority’s energy consumption. So, faced with the need to reduce outgoings, some authorities are looking for smart ways of managing street lighting or even turning off swathes of street lights in the small hours. Back in 2008 the E-street Initiative report concluded that authorities
  • Swarco installs 34 VAS cameras to calm speeding in Brent
    February 12, 2018
    Swarco Traffic has installed 34 Vehicle Activated Speed signs (VAS) at key locations in the UK borough of Brent to support its council in reducing collisions, road danger and accidents that involve powered two wheelers (P2Ws) such as motorcycles and mopeds. Motorcycles account for 19% of all road user deaths despite representing 1% of total road traffic, according to the National Think Road Safety Campaign.