A safety camera partnership (also casualty reduction partnership, safer roads partnership) is a local multi-agency partnership between local government, police authorities, Her Majesty's Courts Service, Highways Agency and the National Health Service within the United Kingdom. Their aim is to enforce speed limits and red traffic lights by the use of cameras.
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Initially established in 1999 as part of the so called National Safety Camera Scheme to enforce speed limits in the United Kingdom. Until April 2007, the partnerships were funded from fines generated from the use of traffic enforcement cameras in each area. Since that time they have received road safety grants.
Aims and objectives
Their stated objectives were to reduce deaths and serious injury by reducing the level and severity of speeding and red light running. The aim was to do this by deterring, detecting and enforcement of speed and red light offences using but not limited to camera technology and driver education programmes. Some also included the use of road safety engineering as a method of contributing to the aim.
The programme was started as part of the UK government's Road Safety Strategy that set targets of:
The reported casualty statistics 2009 showed that the targets had been achieved although the accuracy of the figures are disputed and the role that SCPs played is actually minimal. The 2009 figures for deaths and serious injuries were 44% lower than the 1994-8 average and deaths and serious injuries of children down by 61% on the 1994-8 average. A similar level of 10-year casualty reduction had been consistently achieved over each of the previous sixteen years, with a previous high of 43% in 1993 and the lowest recent figure being 38% in 2006. What has not been established is what part, if any, the partnerships played in achieving those goals, and whether the strong downward trend with the casualty numbers before the partnerships were introduced would have otherwise continued resulting in those goals being realised much sooner.
Strategy
Speed cameras are used to detect and record speed limit contraventions (speeding), and red light cameras are used to record and detect traffic light offences. In an analysis of data recorded in the police STATS19 system, "exceeding speed limit" (the only accident contributory factor which speed cameras target) is recorded as one of the contributory factors in 5% of all road accidents and 12% of fatal accidents. The factor "disobeyed traffic signal" (the factor which red-light cameras target) is recorded as a factor in 2% of all road accidents. The two factors targeted by the SCPs are both in the "Injudicious Action" category of the referenced report. In total, all the factors from that category (which also includes: "Disobeyed Give Way or Stop sign", "Disobeyed double white lines", "Disobeyed pedestrian crossing", "Illegal turn/direction", "Going too fast for conditions", "Following too close", "Vehicle travelling along pavement", and "Cyclist entering road from pavement") are listed as contributory factors in 32% of fatal accidents and 28% of all accidents.
Funding
The income from camera fines was initially passed to the Ministry of Justice, who pass it on to the DfT. The Safety Camera Partnerships originally reclaimed money from the DfT which they then spent on the operating costs of the cameras, additional safety measures such as "speed awareness" courses, public relations, and staff expenses.
Since April 2007 the funding for safety camera partnerships has been significantly altered; all funding is now passed to local authorities in the form of an enhanced road safety grant. Safety camera partnerships must bid annually for funding to council budget holders along with other local authority funded organisation for carry out their operations; the funding, while a road safety grant can be used for any local authority expense that is not connected to road safety, ring-fencing of local authority funds not being allowed.
As a result of this funding change the cost of running the SCP's fell onto local councils. The drive to save costs due to the recession led in 2010 and 2011 to many councils reviewing their spending in this area.
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History
The safety camera programme was announced with a press release in December 1999. Eight trial areas were announced which would begin a roll-out of a number of Safety Cameras. These areas were Cleveland, Essex, Lincolnshire, Northamptonshire, Nottingham, South Wales, Strathclyde and Thames Valley.
The announcement was in part the result of a report commissioned by the UK Department for Transport (DfT) to look at the differing effects of various strategies related to the deployment of speed cameras. The main finding of the report was that camera deployment can reduce drivers' speeds markedly and that cameras on the survey roads were perceived to be reasonably effective.
The eight initial implementations began on 1 April 2000. The cameras were mainly to be placed in locations where there had been a significant number of casualties as a result of road accidents. One novelty in the partnerships was that the revenue raised by the cameras would be ring-fenced for investment back into the running and maintenance of the original cameras and investment in more cameras. In part this was a response to allegations that such cameras were being placed for revenue generation and not for safety reasons. From the start the partnerships were controversial with strong opinions both for and against the cameras. In December 2001 new regulations enforced a code of visibility for the cameras in order that they were always clearly seen by motorists. As of April 2006 there were thirty eight safety camera partnerships in England and Wales covering forty-one police force areas out of a total of forty-three (Durham and North Yorkshire are the exceptions). Similar arrangements exist in Scotland and Northern Ireland.
As the cameras became more widespread the issue became more contentious politically. In particular motoring bodies began to question the effectiveness of speed cameras as a means for accident prevention. This created a demand for research showing whether or not the cameras were, in practice, effective at reducing deaths and injuries from road accidents. Four independent evaluation reports were commissioned by the DfT to address this.
Since April 2007 however, an annual specific (although not ring fenced) 'road safety grant' which was no longer related to the number of fines issued locally was given directly to the local authorities with a responsibility for road safety who were free to choose whether or not to re-invest this in their partnership.
During 2007 a total of 1.26 million fixed penalties were issued, which was down 23% from the previous year.