Buckinghamshire Speed Cameras

12 August 2010, 11:35 | Updated: 12 August 2010, 12:12

Buckinghamshire County Council says more speed cameras could be taken down.

It's just announced where ten are being removed - which it says will save around £50,000 a year.

The sites were decided by carrying out a review in to the performance of the county's speeds cameras. The County Council looked at the current crash rates at the sites, compared to historical ones, and it was decided that where the number of crashes hadn't changed because of the speed cameras, alternative measures could be used instead.

The ten sites where the cameras are coming down are:

A4146 Fenny Road, Stoke Hammond
A4146 Leighton Road, Edlesborough
A413 Wendover Road, Aylesbury
London Road, Aston Clinton
Waterside, Chesham
A355 Green Man Hill / Beaconsfield Road, Farnham Royal
B470 Iver Lane, Iver
A41 Bicester Road, Kingswood
A412 North Orbital Road, Denham
A40 London Road, High Wycome (Both directions)

Valeria Letheren, the Cabinet Member for Transport in Buckinghamshire, said:

"We will not be removing these cameras from sites instantly as this will cost us further money. There will be a phased programme of decommissioning these sites to minimise our costs.  This will also allow us to undertake surveys to determine whether speeds have increased and whether we look at alternative solutions for these sites, such as Vehicle Activated Signs or our Community Speedwatch programme. We will continue our work focusing on driver education, rather than just enforcement. This will include driver training programmes delivered by the casualty reduction team."

The County Council will also keep using mobile speed cameras.

Heart spoke to Jim Stevens - who's the head of transport at the County Council. He told us there's a chance that more switch offs will follow in the county:

"I think there is a prospect that there could be more and that would come out of our ongoing review of speed cameras and the performance of speed cameras across Buckinghamshire - so there is a prospect that could result in further cameras being removed and alternative measures being put in place.

"The other thing I would add is that we've got the comprehensive spending review being published in October, which will set local government budgets for the next two to three years. That will cause Buckinghamshire County Council to look at its priorities across the board. That is a further uncertainty that we need to be aware of that ultimately could have a further impact on transport funding in Buckinghamshire."