SWINDON FIXED CAMERAS

The Fixed GATSO cameras located in the Borough of Swindon were switched off on 31 July 2009.

The following statement has been issued by David Ainsworth Deputy Chief Constable of Wiltshire Police in connection with the deactivation of fixed speed camera’s at Swindon.

“We will continue to engage with all our partners including Swindon Borough Council with whom we have an excellent working relationship in order to jointly apply the most effective use of resources to make our roads safer. I am grateful for the work the council has done in looking at fresh ways of improving safety and this must be an ongoing process.

The council has produced a timetable of phased actions which includes monitoring of changes to ensure they can be shown to be working and the first parts of that programme will be in place and functioning before the deactivation of the fixed camera’s tomorrow.

We will not compromise on public safety or in our drive to help make Wiltshire the safest county in the country and we remain committed to the use of a variety of casualty reduction methods including cameras in speed enforcement. Cameras are an effective means to help achieve a reduction in deaths and injuries and as such are an invaluable part of our casualty reduction strategy and they will continue to be used.

The use of Safety Cameras has contributed to improved levels of road safety across the whole Force area and has helped to prevent many deaths and injuries. It has been long acknowledged by all our partners both locally and nationally, that the best approach to road safety is a ‘Partnership’ one with ‘Engineering, Education, and Enforcement’ forming the foundation of a joint approach.

I am especially pleased that the council as a key member of the Wiltshire and Swindon Road Safety Partnership remain committed to the fact that the mobile speed safety camera units which are part of that partnership will continue as normal in their mobile speed camera enforcement across Swindon where necessary.

We will continue to work with the council in assisting to monitor the impact of the new vehicle activated signs in order to achieve our joint objective of improving public safety but any assumption that speed camera’s will no longer be used in Swindon is plainly incorrect”.