To Chester Cycling Campaign
Cardiff Cycling Campaign

Attached for information

Regards
Roy
CTC Cymru




----- Original Message -----
From: "Cath Harris" <Cath.Harris@...>
Sent: Wednesday, March 19, 2003 3:26 PM
Subject: Cyclists back speed camera court challenge


CTC - the national cyclists' organisation

PRESS RELEASE EMBARGOED UNTIL 00.01 HOURS THURSDAY 20 MARCH 2003


Safety fears force speed camera court challenge

National cyclists' organisation CTC is backing today's High Court
challenge to government plans to paint speed cameras yellow.

Lawyers representing Transport 2000 and the Slower Speeds will appear at
the Royal Courts of Justice in The Strand, London, at 10.30am on
Thursday March 20 2003. They will seek to overturn Government guidance
that came into force in June 2002 requiring all fixed speed cameras in
safety camera partnership areas to be painted yellow and sited
conspicuously.

There will be a vigil outside the Royal Courts of Justice with highly
visual banners from 9.30am on the day with Transport 2000, the Slower
Speeds Initiative, CTC, RoadPeace, Jenny Jones (London Mayor's Road
Safety Ambassador) and representatives of other transport and road
safety groups.

Campaigners are concerned that brightly painted conspicuous cameras
might not work as effectively as inconspicuous ones. They argue that if
cameras are highly visible drivers will slow down when they see one but
then speed up again afterwards when they see the coast is clear. If
cameras are grey and inconspicuous then drivers can't see them in
advance, don't know where they are and will be more likely to stay
within the speed limit at all times. Transport 2000 and the Slower
Speeds Initiative also accuse the Government of taking the decision to
paint cameras yellow on PR rather than safety grounds.

Barristers acting for the campaigners will argue that the Government
acted unlawfully in restricting the use of an important law enforcement
mechanism when it declared that fixed speed cameras in safety camera
partnership areas should all be yellow. The policy, as it currently
stands, gives camera partnerships no choice or flexibility in this
matter.

Instead campaigners would like to see safety camera partnerships
(incorporating the police, the local authority and others) given the
discretion to enforce speed limits in the way that they think is
appropriate to their local area. This would mean allowing the use of
covert (non-yellow) cameras where appropriate.

In addition, campaigners are calling for trials to establish the
relative safety benefits of overt versus covert cameras. Revised
guidelines for safety camera partnership areas should then be based on
the results of these trials. The groups also want a high profile
national publicity campaign to warn of the dangers of speed and the
value of speed cameras.

Roger Geffen, Campaigns and Policy Manager at CTC, said: "The Government
must act to raise awareness that speeding is a lethal crime wherever you
do it, and not just in front of a yellow camera. Sixty-five per cent of
motorists break the 30mph limit, yet the difference between this and
35mph can mean life or death for a pedestrian or cyclist."

Vicky Cann, Assistant Director of Transport 2000 said: "The Government
has admitted that it made the decision to paint speed cameras yellow,
not because it had evidence that yellow cameras were more effective in
slowing drivers down, but because a few journalists were running scare
stories about cameras trapping 'innocent motorists'. This is Government
decision-making by tabloid headlines and it sets a very dangerous
precedent."

Paige Mitchell, Co-ordinator of the Slower Speeds Initiative, said:
"Only drivers who break the law need to worry about speed cameras. Speed
cameras are a very cost- effective way to reduce crashes and save lives.
We hope the High Court will reverse this decision and allow the police
discretion in enforcing speed limits. Let's have trials to see whether
yellow or inconspicuous cameras are more effective."

Last year, the Transport Select Committee of the House of Commons,
chaired by Gwyneth Dunwoody MP, said that people "will die as a result"
of these guidelines; 118 MPs signed an early day motion in the House of
Commons backing the select committee's report.

Transport 2000 and the Slower Speeds Initiative have wide support in
undertaking this legal action. They will be joined outside the High
Court by members of the public who have lost loved ones in road crashes,
as well as by groups representing pedestrians and cyclists. Jenny Jones,
Road Safety Ambassador to the Mayor of London, and Professor Ian Roberts
from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine will also join
the campaigners. The case also has the support of motoring and other
transport campaign groups.

Reaction from other transport and road safety groups
Brigitte Chaudhry, Founder of RoadPeace, said: "The price of speeding in
terms of human loss, grief and care is immeasurable. Proper speed
management and tough legislation and enforcement would not only save
lives but also achieve a reduction in injury severity of 100 per cent of
those injured. We will start tackling the culture of speeding if we stop
regarding road casualties merely as collateral damage of motorisation
and instead acknowledge the immense human, social and economic impact on
all of us."

Jenny Jones, the London Mayor's Road Safety Ambassador and Green Party
Member of the London Assembly, said: "These yellow boxes are the
starting flag for speeding elsewhere in London, as soon as a driver goes
past one they know they can put their foot down on the accelerator
and won't be caught.
"By cutting the number of traffic cops, limiting the use of speed
cameras to the worst hotspots and then painting them yellow, the
Government is sanctioning law breaking on the rest of the road network."


David Williams MBE, Chief Executive of the Guild of Experienced
Motorists, said: "The Guild of Experienced Motorists (GEM) is greatly
concerned that the requirement for all cameras to be 'painted yellow'
was made with little or no consultation or evaluation and has
exacerbated the problem of drivers slowing for short distances at camera
sites but significantly ignoring speed limits elsewhere, thus
endangering all road users."

Ian Roberts, Professor of Public Health, London School of Hygiene and
Tropical
Medicine, said: "Painting cameras yellow without any research into the
effect this could have on safety is typical of a government more
concerned about keeping the road lobby happy than on preventing the 3500
deaths that occur on our roads each year."

Tom Franklin, Director of Living Streets, said: "The Government must
stop dilly-dallying on traffic speed. Excessive speed kills, which is
why speed limits exist. Drivers should stick to these, whatever the
time, and wherever they are, full stop. By ordering that all speed
cameras must be painted bright yellow, the Government is suggesting it
is unfair to catch a speeding motorist unless he is expecting it. That's
like saying it's unfair to catch a burglar unless he was warned he was
going to be caught before he burgled. I congratulate Transport 2000 and
the Slower Speeds Initiative for challenging this policy."

Further information and interviews
CTC: Roger Geffen on 0870 873 0063 / 07775 595998
Transport 2000: Vicky Cann on 020 7613 0743 extn 107 / 07949 597880
Slower Speeds Initiative: Paige Mitchell on 08453 458459 / 07833 108900.
Leigh Day and Co (campaigners' lawyers): Richard Stein on 020 7650 1200
or 07976 780305.

To arrange interviews with Transport 2000, Slower speeds Initiative or
Leigh Day spokespeople, contact Steve Hounsham in the Transport 2000
Press Office on 020 7613 0743 extn 106 or 07984 773468. To arrange
interviews with other organisations, contact them direct.

RoadPeace: Brigitte Chaudhry on 020 8838 5102 or 020 8964 1800.
Jenny Jones: 020 7983 4964 or 07810 156886.
Guild of Experienced Motorists: David Williams on 01342 825676.

Ends




Notes to editors

* CTC is the national organisation for all cyclists in the UK and
Ireland, including children, families, and commuters. CTC has 70,000
members and affiliates and is the oldest and largest cycling body in the
UK.

* In 2003 CTC celebrates its 125th anniversary with locally organised
rides for all over the May Day weekend and eight days of Birthday Rides
in Dorset in August.

* Officers and members actively promote cyclists' right to use roads and
work to improve offroad access throughout the UK and Ireland.

* CTC Cymru and CTC Scotland are well established and influential. CTC
is establishing nine CTC regions in England, some of which have already
been formed.

* CTC membership includes free third party insurance, legal claims
advice, travel and technical guidance, on and offroad route information
and a bi-monthly magazine.

* For details of all CTC services visit www.ctc.org.uk






Cath Harris
Media Officer
CTC
69 Meadrow
Godalming GU7 3HS
Direct Line: 0870 873 0063
Mobile: 07909 685600
Fax: 01483 426994
Web: www.ctc.org.uk





________________________________________________________________________
This e-mail has been scanned for all viruses by Star Internet. The
service is powered by MessageLabs. For more information on a proactive
anti-virus service working around the clock, around the globe, visit:
http://www.star.net.uk
________________________________________________________________________