Skip to main content

UK city considers switching speed cameras back on

Bristol mayor George Ferguson is in talks with the city’s Police and Crime Commissioner Sue Mountstevens to consider switching speed cameras back on in the city. The city’s thirty-seven fixed point speed cameras and traffic light cameras were switched off in April 2011 as part of a nationwide cost-cutting exercise. It was left to local authorities to make the final decision on whether to cut the deterrents. The Bristol Safecam partnership was abolished, leaving the cameras, twenty of which were red light c
April 2, 2013 Read time: 2 mins
Bristol mayor George Ferguson is in talks with the city’s Police and Crime Commissioner Sue Mountstevens to consider switching speed cameras back on in the city.
 
The city’s thirty-seven fixed point speed cameras and traffic light cameras were switched off in April 2011 as part of a nationwide cost-cutting exercise.  It was left to local authorities to make the final decision on whether to cut the deterrents.

The Bristol Safecam partnership was abolished, leaving the cameras, twenty of which were red light cameras, switched off indefinitely.

Ferguson says that certain junctions need to be made safer and that if cameras play a part in doing that then they may need to be switched back on in some places, but he also said "nobody should assume that cameras [in Bristol] are off".

Mayor Ferguson said a decision should be made within the next six months.

Related Content

  • Rethinking urban traffic congestion to put people first
    August 28, 2015
    Following the publication of the Texas A&M Transportation Institute/Inrix report on urban traffic congestion in the US, Robert Puentes, senior fellow with the Brookings Institution’s Metropolitan Policy Program , says that while the focus and themes of the report are largely the same as previous years, big changes are underway in how we study, think about, and address metropolitan traffic congestion. This new, modern approach calls into question whether the endless pursuit of congestion relief makes sense a
  • Growth of smart parking initiatives
    April 25, 2013
    New initiatives in smart parking have been announced in the US and Europe in recent months. Is the age of smarter parking finally with us? Jon Masters investigates. Smart parking comes to Manchester, reads the headline to a story posted on the UK city’s website towards the end of March this year. Sensors will be fixed to parking spaces to give drivers and authorities information on parking availability via mobile phone apps and other software, the story goes on to explain. Lower down the page, Manchester Ci
  • Give offending drivers credit for good behaviour
    July 27, 2012
    Andrew Rooke and Dave Marples of Technolution B.V. take a look at what can be done to address a long-standing problem: the all-or-nothing approach of automated enforcement. To start, a brief history of speeding: on 14 November 1896, the first Veteran Car Run was staged in England from London to Brighton. It was organised to celebrate new British legislation to raise the maximum speed of vehicles from four to 14mph while also removing the need for a person waving a red flag to walk in front of the car and wa
  • Bob Karr: 'I want to coin the term T2X'
    October 7, 2021
    Star Systems International focuses on providing transponders, readers and consulting services for Smart City initiatives and tolling operations. Adam Hill talks to SSI founder Bob Karr