ALL speed cameras could be switched off in Solihull, transport bosses have said.Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council spoke out after its road safety budget was slashed by 40 per cent for next year.
A council report says: “It seems likely in the short term that there will be less safety camera enforcement activity, potentially there is a risk that the use of road safety cameras will come to an end in the near future.”
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The move comes after Oxfordshire County Council switched off all fixed cameras and other authorities moved to axe the devices.
Yet SMBC says the borough’s 27 fixed cameras are an ‘effective deterrent to excessive and dangerous speed when used at appropriate locations’.
Fatal collisions fell from ten in 1994 to six in 2009 and ‘serious casualties’ fell from 173 to 82, it says.
The report warns: “A significant reduction in safety camera enforcement activity is, over a period of time, likely to lead to an increase in casualties along those routes/locations.”
The partnership refuses to release how much money each camera makes, saying it would damage ‘law enforcement’.
Some UK partnerships, however, release the data.
Regional councils pool cash into the West Midlands Safer Roads Partnership – but the report says this body could be axed.
It is not known if councils will contribute their own cash to make up the difference to keep the partnership alive, it adds.
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