Reply to study saying speed cameras don't work [priv]

[Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>]

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Date: Wed, 05 Nov 2003 11:50:27 +1100
From: Tony Healy <thealy () siliconchic com>
Subject: Re: [Politech] New study says speed cameras don't work [priv]
In-reply-to: <6.0.0.22.2.20031015083536.0210afa8 () mail well com>
To: Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>

Declan

I have prepared a response to Alan Buckingham's study that claims speed
cameras don't work. The main points are:

1. the crash types excluded from the speed category by Buckingham should not
be excluded; they are caused or exacerbated by speeding and can be addressed
by anti-speeding measures. Examples include jack-knifing, slippery roads and
aggressive driving. So the proportion of crashes caused by speeding is not 7
percent as Buckingham claims, but the 30 to 40 percent claimed by road
safety researchers.

2. crashes are biassed towards low speeds for many reasons, but this does
not indicate that lawful travelling is more dangerous than speeding. For
example, many crashes occur when vehicles are entering or leaving the
traffic stream, and thus travelling slower than the stream or even stopped.

3. the plateauing in crash statistics that Buckingham comments on has
several possible explanations, but Buckingham does not consider them. For
example, they could result simply from education and advocacy programs
having reached all reasonable drivers, and now being stalled on a hard core
of speedsters. Or they might result from the effect of talking on mobile
phones, which became prominent during the 1990's and which causes crashes.

4. the Australian experience clearly shows speed cameras reducing fatalities
where they're installed. Crash reductions range from 46 percent to 95
percent over three year periods.

http://www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=839


Declan, please remove my email address if you use this message.

Regards, Tony Healy
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