Road Angel has made national headlines after we revealed that almost half of UK speed cameras are not currently operational.
At Road Angel, we are on the side of the driver and we do everything we possibly can to make life easier and safer for motorists.
We believe if speed cameras are in place then they should be operating. Inactive speed cameras serve no purpose other than to confuse motorists and other road users and could even be dangerous.
That’s why we decided to make a Freedom of Information Request to the Department of Transport to find out exactly how many fixed speed cameras are actually working out there on our roads.
Our findings are published in full below after making headlines across the UK. Now we are calling on police forces to remove all non-operational speed cameras as soon as possible to ensure road safety.
Our Study
The Department for Transport was able to provide us with data from 25 of 43 police forces across England and Wales.
Three forces, Durham, North Yorks and Wiltshire, reported they had no fixed speed cameras so we eliminated them and published the results from the remaining 22 forces in a table - please see below.
The data revealed a surprising picture with 46% of all fixed speed cameras not working, meaning thousands of motorists who break the limit won’t be caught.
Our study has been eagerly received by the media with more than 50 outlets covering the news including the Daily Telegraph, Yahoo Finance, The Sun, Daily Express, Daily Mirror and many more.
Road Angel founder Gary Digva said: “It’s been fantastic to be able to shine a light on the issue of inactive speed cameras across the UK and we’re pleased our study was so well received by the media.
"We support speed cameras because they save lives but we do believe motorists deserve to be told if cameras are operating or not.
"By bringing this issue to the attention of millions of motorists across the UK we hope to better inform drivers and other road users about the issue.
"We believe cameras should either be operating or they shouldn’t be there at all. A fixed camera which isn’t operational is simply a distraction for motorists and could even cause an accident.
“So we are now calling on the police to remove all non-operational speed cameras across Britain. We believe it is the best course of action to ensure road safety.”
Key Findings
- Almost half (46%) of fixed speed cameras are non-operational.
- All eight fixed speed cameras in Northamptonshire were inactive while Gwent only had one active camera of 31 in place.
- Derbyshire has more speed cameras out of action than any other region (93), with only 20 of the 113 across the county capable of catching speeding motorists.
- Derbyshire (113), Essex (110) and Devon & Cornwall (110) are the regions across England with the most speed cameras - each having at least 40% incapable of catching speeding drivers.
- Only two police force areas had all speed cameras working Dyfed-Powys in Wales, and Suffolk. Both of these police forces have just four devices each.
- The West Midlands had only five percent of their speed cameras standing inactive, with 62 out of 65 devices in operation.
- Leicestershire has a total of 18 fixed speed camera sites, yet only four of these are working, leaving 78% of the devices inactive.
- Cambridgeshire has 17 inactive speed cameras out of the 46 within the region. Neighbouring Bedfordshire has just 8% of inoperational devices.
Results in Full
