Road pricing campaign news

Title: A500 speed traps disappear overnight as roadworks completed
Date: 15/06/2010
URL: www.thisisstaffordshire.co.uk

Preview: SPEED restrictions have been removed from the D-road after fines worth at least £87,960 were issued to motorists over five months.

Average speed cameras enforcing a 40 mph limit on the A500 between Etruria to Porthill were taken down at the weekend. The move came after roadworks were completed ahead of schedule.

Highways Agency officials say minor work still needs to be finished off overnight in the week starting July 5.
But temporary speed limits or cameras will not be needed for the work.

Figures obtained by The Sentinel under the Freedom of Information Act show 1,333 drivers were caught speeding between the A34 Talke junction and the A53 at Etruria between January 1 and March 31.

They were picked out by mobile camera vans when a 50mph limit was in place.

And a further 133 drivers were caught from April 7 to May 7 after the static cameras were installed and a 40 mph limit was introduced.

If guilty, the drivers will have been handed £60 fines and three penalty points.

That means motorists could have been fined £87,960 in total.

The Sentinel is still trying to obtain figures relating to the period between May 7 and the cameras coming down on Sunday.

The Staffordshire Safer Roads Partnership, which operates the county's speed cameras, was responsible for administering the fines.

It would not say how many motorists appealed fines and added it was acting on the Highways Agency instructions.

Peter Roberts, chief executive of lobby group the Drivers' Alliance, said: "This initiative seems to have been more about lining people's pockets than keeping drivers safe.

"The cameras were in place when the workmen weren't there and £87,960 is a ridiculous amount of money to have been collected over such a small time period.

"It seems ludicrous that they say they don't need the cameras in place for the work on July 5.

"How is this work any different from what has been going on before?"

The Highways Agency has previously said it was carrying out work on the central reservation of the A500.

That project involved the safety fence being removed and replaced.

And officials said it was imperative for the safety of both road users and road workers that an enforced reduced speed limit was in place 24 hours a day – even though work only went on at night.

Barry Proctor, a board member of the Road Haulage Association and owner of Talke haulage firm Barry Proctor Services, said: "The cameras have disappeared pretty suddenly, but I am glad to see the back of them.

"I was worried they would be there permanently because they had been cemented to the ground.

"I completely understand that speed limits have to be in place to protect the workers at night, but to have them there in the day when they weren't working was ridiculous."

A Highways Agency spokesperson said most major works on the A500 Etruria to Porthill scheme had been completed early.

He added: "As such, the traffic management, temporary speed limit and associated speed cameras were removed over the weekend.

"There are still some minor works to be undertaken.

"They will be done overnight to minimise the delays for the travelling public and will not require a temporary speed limit or speed cameras because they are only minor works.