Safety cameras shown to cut deaths

05/01/12

By Kev Kiernan

Roads in Scotland fitted with safety cameras have recorded two-thirds fewer serious accidents over the past couple of years.

Between 2008 and 2010, fatalities and serious injury numbers dropped by 63 per cent.

So-called personal injury collisions on the same roads were down 49 per cent, according to the figures published by the Scottish Safety Camera Programme.

It said cameras which monitor speed and red lights were installed in "priority" areas to steer motorists towards safer driving. The devices are fixed on roads in Dumfries and Galloway, Fife, the north of Scotland, Lothian and the Borders, Strathclyde and Tayside.

The data was produced in response to a question asked in the Scottish Parliament by Stewart Maxwell MSP.

The West of Scotland politician said: "If cameras prevent three fatal accidents, this will outweigh the total cost of running the whole programme across Scotland. But we cannot put a price on safety on our roads. And with every accident the cameras prevent, we are also saving valuable police and health resources."