Skip to main content

Speed cameras switched back on in Avon and Somerset

Speed cameras across Avon and Somerset in the UK are beginning to be switched back on for the first time since 2011, marking the beginning of a road safety project that will see a total of 29 static cameras become operational again. They were switched off when Government funding was withdrawn for the joint local authority and police Safety Camera Partnership. The cameras will be switched back on in a phased programme, exact dates yet to be confirmed, over the coming weeks and months. Revenue raised from the
February 24, 2015 Read time: 3 mins
RSSSpeed cameras across Avon and Somerset in the UK are beginning to be switched back on for the first time since 2011, marking the beginning of a road safety project that will see a total of 29 static cameras become operational again.

They were switched off when Government funding was withdrawn for the joint local authority and police Safety Camera Partnership.

The cameras will be switched back on in a phased programme, exact dates yet to be confirmed, over the coming weeks and months. Revenue raised from them will be used to fund their maintenance and enforcement.

113 RedSpeed International is working in conjunction with Avon and Somerset police to switch the cameras back. The first camera has now gone live; the remainder will become operational in due course.

Outside of London this is the first implementation of RedSpeed’s new back office software suite, RedSpeed 360, a suite of software to download, view check, report and export offences to third party evidence processing systems. It is used to setup, configure and tailor RedSpeed Sites as well as retrieve statistical data from RedSpeed sites. One of its key features is that it can manage multiple sites from a single server, and if one site does go down, the remaining sites will continue to function normally.

Avon and Somerset Police’s Road Safety Superintendent Richard Corrigan said: “The ongoing work we have undertaken with our partners to reinstate static speed cameras in the force area is based on national research showing that cameras add value to road safety. 27 per cent of priority issues raised with the police relate to speeding vehicles in our communities. Also, there was camera infrastructure worth more than two million pounds lying dormant on the roadsides in the force area. We believe that the static cameras can be operated in a cost-neutral way and that reactivating them for use alongside our mobile camera vans will help in making our roads safer.”

Police and Crime Commissioner Sue Mountstevens said: “This is a positive move which will improve the safety of roads across Avon and Somerset. I know from speaking to people how important road safety is to them and many have been pressing to have the cameras in their communities turned back on as soon as possible. I’m pleased that I can now tell them they are back on.

“Static cameras will complement the work of the mobile speed enforcement vans and motorbikes that already work across Avon and Somerset and together they send a powerful message to drivers that speeding is being taken seriously.”

Related Content

  • Promoting understanding of the need for enforcement
    March 15, 2012
    Changing needs of mature and emerging economies are demanding more rigorous enforcement services. Gatso’s managing director Timo Gatsonides spells out the challenge to Jason Barnes. As geographical markets mature and saturate, it might seem that the only thing for suppliers to do is to look further afield in search of new opportunities. The automated enforcement market in north western Europe could be a case in point, but Gatso’s managing director Timo Gatsonides begs to differ. The sheer number of new syst
  • Changing driving conditions need ongoing driver training
    January 23, 2012
    Trevor Ellis, chairman of the ITS UK Enforcement Interest Group, considers the role of ongoing driver training in increasing compliance. It is over 30 years since I passed my driving test. The world was quite a different place then, in that there were only half the vehicles there are now on the UK's roads, mobile phones did not really exist and (in the UK at least) the vast majority of us drove cars which by today's standards exhibited dreadful dynamic stability and were woefully underpowered.
  • Felix Scheuter, of Haenni Instruments, on effective highway weight enforcement
    September 26, 2013
    Felix Scheuter, managing director at Haenni Instruments, the renowned Switzerland-based mobile scales manufacturer, gives World Highways his views on how best to ensure effective highway weight enforcement The main danger for any road is its gradual destruction by overloaded heavy goods vehicles (HGVs). The more frequently such vehicles use a highway, the faster it is destroyed. Mobile patrol teams using mobile weighing scales are a highly effective way to enforce weight limits aimed at protecting ro
  • ITS World Congress debates perceptions of enforcement
    December 4, 2012
    The technical programme of this year’s ITS World Congress in Vienna includes a special session on the image of enforcement. ITS International examines the scale of the problem and what can be done about it. Debate on the merits and difficulties of enforcing speed limits appears centred on a conflict of principles. Put very simply, local communities, people living close to busy or hazardous roads, want to see traffic speeds calmed. Drivers on those roads, on the whole, want their principle of freedom to be m