Not Caught…For A Change!

UK Highway Cameras Appeared Useless

It recently turned out that the advanced snooping technology of the British Highways Agency has proved so useless that no drivers at all have received tickets for speeding on the M25.

Although a lot of users of the largest carpark in the world may be surprised that anyone could go fast enough to get a speeding ticket, it’s clear that at least someone must have got past 70 miles per hour during the past year. Local newspapers explained that certain technical and legal difficulties were the reason why the Highways Agency couldn’t switch on the network of 36 new digital cameras.

The cameras were purchased and installed in order to enforce variable speed limits on the London orbital motorway. It was found out that the equipment was wasted only after AOL wondered which section of the road netted the most cash. Surprisingly enough, it turned out that the cameras had caught no speeders at all.

After the first digital camera was installed three years ago, the Highways Agency representative admitted that it had still not received statutory authority to use them in a number of English counties. In the meantime, in other parts of the road, the difficulties were “technical”, with the older generation of “wet film” cameras being upgraded to new digital devices. However, it also turned out that for some reason in a few counties these cameras haven’t even been tested.

The Highways Agency representative failed to reveal how much the overhead cameras had cost or when the organization would be able to use them. In the meanwhile, Jim Fitzpatrick, Labour’s road safety spokesperson, pointed out that the M25 was widely used as a racetrack by many reckless drivers, so it was ridiculous that the network didn’t work.

According to Claire Armstrong, representing the anti-camera group named Safespeed, there’s the only question: if the Highways Agency believed that the cameras were any good, then why wasn’t the outfit using them?