Dear editor,
The letter in last week's Wiltshire Times highlights one of the county's top-level policy failings: the 2010 abandonment of fixed speed/safety cameras on Wiltshire's roads.
Before the chorus of protest pipes up at the prospect of drivers losing their dangerous 'freedom', a reminder: speeding is illegal; speeding is a factor in 56% of fatal road traffic collisions; and, if you don't break the law, you won't be fined or banned.
Simple.
Wiltshire is just one of four out of 70 counties in England and Wales that don't use fixed cameras.
How does this 6% minority shape up when detecting speeding drivers?
Not good.
Wiltshire's figures speak for themselves.
According to an RAC Foundation report, in 2019 Wiltshire detected just 1,191 speeding offences, with 56 taken to court.
Neighbouring Dorset – with 36 cameras – detected 22,716 speeders, of which 1,144 were taken to court.
That's about 20 times more than Wiltshire in both categories, for a county similar in size and population.
As last week's correspondent pointed out, Wiltshire wastes its precious, under-resourced police manpower, with officers standing on roadsides while 'theft and corruption go undetected'.
Yours sincerely,
John Fullard, Warminster
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