1. Path to this page:Home
  2. >> Environment and Transport
  3. >> Roads and Streets
  4. >> Road Safety
  5. >> Speed Limits
  6. >> Speed Checks

Speed checks

On average 10 people die and 100 people are seriously injured on Great Britain's roads each day.

Two thirds of all crashes in which people are killed or injured happen on roads with a speed limit of 30mph or less. At 35mph a driver is twice as likely to kill someone as they are at 30mph.

  • hit by a car at 40mph 9 out of 10 pedestrians will be killed
  • hit by a car at 30mph around 50 percent of pedestrians will survive
  • hit by a car at 20mph only 1 out of 10 pedestrians will be killed.

Accident risk rises the faster a driver travels. At 25 percent above the average speed a driver is about six times more likely to have an accident than a driver travelling at the average speed.

At 30mph vehicles travel 44 feet (about three car lengths) every second. Even in good conditions the difference in stopping distance between 30mph and 35mph is an extra 21 feet which is more than two car lengths.

|Back to top

Cameras

Area in which cameras are used to enforce traffic regulations

The purpose of safety cameras is to change driver behaviour and are only used when people break speed limits. When this happens a camera detects the offence and provides evidence for a fixed penalty notice.

Drivers who choose to exceed the legal speed limits will incur a minimum penalty of £60 and three penalty points on their driving licence.

It has been proved nationally that traffic cameras can reduce the number of road crashes and protect road users by encouraging people to drive more slowly.

In 2000 eight pilot camera partnerships were established in Great Britain. In Year One of the pilot 47 percent fewer people were killed or seriously injured at safety camera sites and there were 35 percent fewer crashes and an 18 percent area wide reduction in casualties.

Year two results showed a 35 percent reduction in the number of people killed or seriously injured on the roads at camera locations and a 56 percent reduction in the number of pedestrian casualties at the same sites. There was a 10 percent reduction in average speeds in the areas monitored.

|Back to top

London Safety Camera Partnership

The London Safety Camera Partnership is the organisation that operates and manages safety cameras throughout London.

|Back to top

Page Last Updated: 9 January 2012

If you want to give comments on the service itself please visit our Contact page.