Origins Of The Programme
The Safety Camera Programme was first piloted across the UK in April 2000. This followed a cost benefit study conducted in 1996* which recommended that highway authorities and Police forces should be allowed to recover their costs from fine revenue.
* Hooke A, Knox J and Portas D (1996). Cost Benefit Analysis of Traffic Light and Speed Cameras. Police Research Series Paper 20, Police Research Group, Home Office, London.
Glasgow was one of the eight areas across Britain to take part in this pilot for "cost recovery". This allowed fine revenue from safety cameras to be used to fund additional camera activity for enforcement in specific areas where there was a history of speeding and red-light running.
The Programme in Scotland was further enhanced with the creation of the Scottish Safety Camera Programme which is part of the Scottish Executive.
In December 2005, an announcement was made by the UK government that hypothecation of safety camera fines would cease on 31st March 2007. A decision was taken by the Scottish Government to continue funding the safety camera partnerships through grant payments. On 1st April 2007 this new arrangement began.
The Programme in Scotland has expanded in stages. Strathclyde was the first partnership to be launched in November 2002. Gradually, others have been created and there are now eight in total. The most recent to launch was the Central Scotland Safety Camera Partnership in April 2006.
The other partnerships are: Dumfries and Galloway, Tayside, North East, Fife, Lothian and Borders, and Northern.
A measure of how safety cameras were fulfilling their objective of reducing casualties and reducing deaths came in the Year Two Report into the operation of cameras in the pilot areas published in 2003.
This evaluation showed that the pilot project across Britain had achieved:
- A 35 percent reduction in people killed or seriously injured at camera sites (equating to 280 people)
- A 14 percent reduction in personal injury accidents at camera locations (510 fewer)
- A 56 percent reduction in the number of pedestrians killed or seriously injured at camera locations
- 4 percent fewer people were killed or seriously injured across the pilot areas.
Figures for Glasgow were even more impressive. The city recorded a 67 percent reduction in people being killed or seriously injured and a 64 percent reduction in personal injury accidents at camera locations.