The Scottish Safety Camera Programme is delivered by partnerships consisting of local authorities, the Police, the trunk roads network, district courts and other agencies with an interest in reducing road casualties. These can include the NHS, Fire and Rescue Service and the Ambulance Service.
Tayside Safety Camera Partnership
The Funding for the Programme
There are clear and strict rules which apply to partnerships operating within the Programme to ensure that cameras are targeted at the areas of greatest need in terms of casualty reduction.
Only partnerships that operate under and abide by the Programme's rules and guidance can be funded by the Scottish Safety Camera Programme.
These rules make sure the motivation for participation in the Programme is to reduce casualties and improve road safety. Partnerships are not required to generate a financial surplus and are only funded for the costs of camera enforcement activity.
How Sites are Determined - Rules and Guidance Governing the Programme
Criteria are applied to the installation of new cameras under the Programme and are contained in the Handbook of Rules and Guidance which safety camera partnerships must follow in order to be part of the Programme. These criteria ensure that cameras are sited where there is a history of casualties and a speeding problem.
Partnerships are required to consider a number of other factors - over and above accident figures - such as the cause of collisions, the percentage of motorists travelling over the speed limit, the suitability of the area for camera enforcement and the distribution of collisions. It should also be established that no other engineering solutions are appropriate at that time to the location.
Each year, each partnership is required to review its sites and to resubmit its operational case to ensure compliance with the rules and to ensure that proposed sites continue to meet the needs of Scotland's roads.
Partnerships are also allowed a "15 percent tolerance level" with regard to their activity.
Explained simply, tolerance is included within the rules of the Programme for Partnerships to enforce at camera sites which DO NOT meet the criteria. This tolerance relates to locations of exceptional and community concern. But a partnership must not detect more than 15 percent of its total annual offenders from the combined total of such sites.
Visibility
There are also rules in relation to the visibility of cameras.
Fixed camera sites in Scotland all have yellow and red markings. The camera housings must be visible and not hidden behind bridges, trees or other obstructions.
Cameras at traffic lights are not required to have such markings as it is considered - for road safety reasons - that they might distract attention from the lights themselves.
With regard to mobile enforcement, all vehicles are clearly marked and individuals carrying out the detection are identified by fluorescent clothing.
Camera warning and speed limit signs must be placed in advance of fixed or mobile locations.
Signs must also only be placed in areas where cameras are regularly operating.