speed camera

It was a page 1 of the Bucks Free Press which told how authorities had collected a staggering £1.2million in four years from speed cameras on Marlow Hill, High Wycombe.

The story, from February 9, 2007, told how a total of 21,706 motorists were given fixed penalty notices on the hill (the total for both sides) during that period.

These revelations were the culmination of almost two years of solid battling by me and staff to find out the figures from an organisation called the Thames Valley Safer Roads Partnership.

Our fight was even mentioned in the House of Lords, and eventually we won.

But it wasn’t the principle of speed cameras as such that was the issue here – rather it was the siting of a mobile camera outside Wycombe Abbey School on the hill just before the limit turned from 30 to 40.

Drivers were incensed as many of them saw unblemished licences tarnished, just because they had simply revved up to the new limit a bit too early.

One reader worked out that if cameras had been on the hill for every day for the four years, this would have meant 14 drivers were caught every single day.

And that’s what really caught my attention on Friday.

Because it reminded me of a story written two weeks ago by our reporter Lawrence Dunhill which began: “About two motorists a day were fined for using their mobile phone while driving in Wycombe in the past year, figures show.”

Lawrence discovered 672 fixed penalty notices were issued to drivers in the district in 2010/11, more than double the number issued two years ago.

He had asked for the statistics after driving instructor Simon Parker told police at a meeting he spotted 32 motorists using their mobile phones during a two-hour lesson recently. Simon’s figures are probably the tip of the nasty iceberg, because we all know that countless drivers in Bucks are always riding along with a mobile glued to their ear – making a mockery of the law.

Police acknowledged the danger of these phones and said they were doing their best to tackle the problem.

But just compare 672 fixed penalty notices in a year across the whole of the district to the figure of 21,706 on one single hill in four years. Even if you timed the 672 by four, you only get 2,688.

I know police resources are stretched and I know it’s probably harder to nab someone on the phone than it is to use a camera to catch a speeding driver. But I would also argue that phoning and driving – which carries the same fines and points penalties – is a lot more dangerous than speeding up a hill at 40 just before the limit actually turns to 40.

The Marlow Hill experience proved that if police really put their mind to something, they can nick a load of people. So today I am asking them to put a similar effort into cracking down on mobile phone use at the wheel.

The irony of my Marlow Hill campaign was that shortly after the figures were released, the county council increased the speed limit to 40mph all the way up the hill. I suggest that made a nonsense of a vast majority of the 21,706 fixed penalty notices. In other words, I believe police largely wasted their time and effort.

I can assure them that there will be no such waste alleged by me if they spend as much time tackling the menace of mobile phones at the wheel.