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Thank you for your letter to this Department dated 10 September enclosing a copy of your letter dated 10 May which appears to have gone astray. I have been asked to reply and should like to apologise for the delay in doing so. As I am sure you can appreciate the issue of road safety has generated a substantial amount of correspondence in recent months which has resulted in us being unable to respond within our normal timescale. Firstly, you may be interested to know that on 4 November the Handbook of Rules and Guidance for the National Safety Camera Programme for England and Wales for 2005/06 was published. This is available on the DfT web site at www.dft.gov.uk and also from DfT Publications, PO Box 236, Wetherby LS23 7NB. In answer to your specific questions, the Department does not believe that there is ever a time when it is right for motorists to break the posted speed limit. Speeding is a traffic offence with potentially serious consequences and the objective of the Government's Safety Camera Programme is to save lives and prevent injuries on roads with known problems of speeding or vehicles going through red traffic lights. The Road Traffic Act 1991 amended the law so that Courts could accept evidence of speeding from type approved photographic equipment accompanied only by a certificate signed on behalf of the relevant police force. Following that change in the law, local authorities were given guidance on where and how to deploy cameras in Circular Roads 1/92 and how to sign cameras in Circular Roads 1/95. Where cameras are placed and how they are signed or made visible is not covered in law. Additional guidance on deployment and rules on signing and visibility were introduced for those areas seeking to participate in the Safety Camera Programme that allows some fine revenue to be re-cycled to cover the cost of camera operation. These relate to financial arrangements but have no bearing on the prosecution process. Outside of the funding programme the police are able to enforce speed limits by using any equipment that has been type approved by the Home Office and do so in a number of ways, including covertly. The law requires only that the speed limit be properly signed. Additional information about the Safety Camera Programme can be found on the National Safety Camera web site at http://www.dft.gov.uk. I hope this is helpful. |