Yet again...

The decision by Oxfordshire to switch off their speed cameras has reignited the debate about just how effective - or otherwise - they are. I've posted before about the fact that if speed cameras were doing what they are apparently designed to do - reduce the number of motorists exceeding the posted speed limit - the amount they generate in fines would reduce and slowly dwindle to zero. But this doesn't happen, quite the reverse in fact. On the other hand there are studies which show that there is a small but significant reduction in the number of accidents which take place at speed camera sites. So what do we make of this? My take is that it suggests that speed cameras have little effect on the speed at which motorists drive, but the fact that they are there does have the effect of making them drive more carefully. Which goes to support the theory that I have put forward more than once on this blog, that it's how you drive that matters, not how fast you drive.