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Speed cameras have been the focus of motorists' anger and frustration for years, although we are told repeatedly that they are an effective means of reducing death and injury on the roads. But is this really the case?
Whether speed cameras actually do save lives seems an easy assertion to test: measure the numbers of casualties at a site over a period, say two years; introduce a speed camera; re-measure the number of casualties over an equal period, and any reduction is due to the camera. But it's not really that simple. Many other factors are at play that might make cameras appear to be more effective than they really are. And these factors are often ignored when evaluating the performance of speed cameras at improving road safety.
Do speed cameras actually save lives?
[...] In road safety data, there is a general tendency for collision incidents at a site to reduce anyway following a short-term rise in their number, without any treatment (such as a speed camera) being applied. In statistics, this is known as regression-to-the-mean (or RTM). We also know that the long-term trend in collisions has generally been downward due to factors such as improved vehicle safety and better driver education[PDF].
So if we observe a reduction in casualties at a site following the installation of a camera, we need to ask how much of this reduction would have happened anyway (the RTM effect)? How much is due to general trends in road safety? And how much can we actually attribute to the camera itself?
[...] To make matters worse, half of the UK's fixed speed cameras may not even be turned on. So the situation is far from simple.
Methods to accurately account for RTM and trend often require knowledge of advanced statistics which may not always be available within a road safety team, and so it is likely that these confounding factors are not being considered consistently across the country.
[...] So, do speed cameras save lives? The answer is almost certainly yes, but probably not always to the extent that people are led to believe.
https://theconversation.com/do-speed-cameras-really-save-lives-87701
(Score: 2) by frojack on Tuesday November 21 2017, @08:01PM (6 children)
So it works then!!!
Great news. .
Park an excess police car with light flashing and some random junker along the road, blow up doll in the driver seat and call it a day.
Cheaper than a camera installation.
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 5, Interesting) by qzm on Tuesday November 21 2017, @08:49PM (1 child)
Interesting how many posts you are making in this thread. Care to let us know your involvement?
Anyway, yet again you spout pure garbage. You are saying that the normal reaction to a police car on the side of the road (which is usually a reduction in average speed to a small fraction of the local limit) is a good thing?
You strongly support the large tailbacks that often occur (especially in peak times) on critical routes as being good?
You actually think we should find ways of artificially doing this to create this effect more often?
So, your basic position seems to be that actively punishing a large percentage of road users for doing ABSOLUTELY NOTHING WRONG is a good idea.
I see..
Interesting viewpoint.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 21 2017, @11:22PM
He's just lonely because not a lot of people want to listen to him embrace <insert today's batshit crazy agenda>.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 21 2017, @10:03PM
Of course it works. There is nothing that slows idiots down on the road than a police car. Suddenly the speedsters become very careful drivers. At least for 5 minutes.
(Score: 2) by LoRdTAW on Tuesday November 21 2017, @10:14PM
Ha! Super Troopers had a scene in the beginning where one of the troopers used a blow up doll as a decoy while he fished in the lake next to the road.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by JoeMerchant on Tuesday November 21 2017, @11:14PM
unknowable. Too many variables, too many strongly held opinions on both sides of the issue, and as the article implies: whatever effect there is is likely minimal.
Speed cameras are one of dozens of behavior shaping methods attempting to influence driver behavior on the road. If speed control was such an important life and death decision point, there are dozens of viable technologies that have been available for decades to 100% control vehicle speed on the public roads. When GPS was rolled out to trucking fleets, some fleets (WalMart for one) imposed zero speeding tolerance policies on their drivers for several years - during that time your would NEVER see a WalMart truck over the posted speed limit. Apparently they have relaxed this policy in recent years, because I regularly see all semis on the local highway at 5-15mph over the limit. Toll roads know how far drivers travel and how long it takes them to travel that distance, but I don't know a single one that imposes any kind of penalty for arriving at the pay booth "extra-legally early."
Since speed isn't important enough to actually control completely, it's left out there in the field with other "violations of law" that seem to be enforced less than 1% of the time. It leaves the impression that it's just a minor revenue generation scheme masquerading as a public safety action. I think, like so many laws, speed mostly isn't enforced until somebody (somebody the police department pays attention to) complains and asks for enforcement. They enforce until the complainer is mollified, or they are no longer turning a profit by giving tickets in that location, because the regular drivers in an area do catch on fairly quickly even if they're not personally stopped.
As for speed-camera revenue generation schemes, they surely exist, but I think many courts still throw out such tickets if you fight them.
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 2) by slinches on Wednesday November 22 2017, @04:11PM
They do this where I live. I frequently see police cars parked on the side of the road with lights on and they don't even pretend to have a car pulled over. They just stop and turn on the lights at specific locations and times to strategically induce changes in traffic flow to prevent additional backups. Usually it's a mile or so ahead of construction or natural bottleneck to create gaps for more effective merging.