| The Evening Telegraph can reveal that none of the 17 fixed cameras sites in the Tayside Police area coincide with the 10 most common areas where people are injured in road traffic accidents.
Tayside Police have long argued that safety cameras are installed to cut accidents in areas with a history of collisions.
Campaigners argued the scheme is more effective at raising money than cutting fatalities on the roads.
The most notorious blackspot for accidents is at Kingsway West Retail Park, Dundee, where there have been 35 accidents between 2000 and 2004, statistics obtained under the Freedom of Information Act reveal.
The Kingsway is one of the most dangerous roads as the Caird Park section of the dual carriageway comes second on the list with 24 accidents over the four years.
Also on the list is the B961 Drumgeith Road and the C241 Broughty Ferry Road in Dundee. The A9 Stirling to Perth road at Findo Gask and Cairnie Braes also feature along with the A90 Perth to Dundee at Westown, the A92 Dundee to Arbroath at Grange of Barry, A923 Blairgowrie to Muirhead at Piperdam and A93 Old Scone to Blairgowrie at Meikleour.
Most accidents happened between 4 pm and 8 pm, with the majority taking place on a Monday and, unsurprisingly, increasing during the winter months.
Paul Smith, of the Safe Speed road safety campaign, which argues against the use of speed cameras, claiming the growth in their numbers has coincided with an increase in injury accidents, said that by failing to install speed cameras at accident blackspots, Tayside Police are “undermining” the claims they make for having speed cameras.
“The information you have uncovered undermines the claims they are making for speed cameras. They are not living by their own claims,” said Mr Smith.
“When there are genuine blackspots there can be a range of different reasons for this. It could be the volume of traffic, which they (police) would say would warrant a speed camera or the composition of the local traffic, which would be caused by the design of the road. When we have a genuine blackspot, you want to do the very best for road safety. We would argue that speed cameras are never a solution.
“I am not particularly surprised by the findings but I think the thing that’s interesting is that by not having speed cameras at accident blackspots, it undermines the claim they are making for the cameras as a broad-ranging solution.
“Thirty-five accidents in one place over a two, five, 10-mile stretch would normally fit their model for a speed camera.”
Figures previously released by the Scottish Executive revealed roadside cameras operated by the Tayside Safety Camera Partnership (TSCP) generated revenue of £621,000 in 2004/05, their first full year of operation.
Tayside’s fines total was over £1700 each day — up from the £1400 average for the previous nine months
None of the partners can make a profit. The project recoups only its costs and sends any surplus to the Treasury. |
