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Safety camera sites should be extended, police chief says

Richard Brunstrom , chief constable of North Wales, is seeking to change the rules on where speed cameras can be sited in order to enforce the limit on more roads.

Having announced that he is standing down as head of roads policing, Mr Brunstrom admitted in an interview with The Times newspaper that he had failed to foresee the strength of public opposition to cameras and should have taken steps to reassure drivers that they were not simply money-making devices.

Mr Brunstrom remains convinced that cameras improve road safety and said he was working with the DfT to reform the rules to allow far greater flexibility on where they can be used. He said a recent meeting of the Safety Camera Board, which includes the police and the DfT, had discussed ending the requirement that fixed cameras can be installed on a road only after four crashes involving death or serious injuries.

Mr Brunstrom said: "Parents often write to us and ask us to put a camera outside a school because the traffic is so dangerous. It's very difficult to write back and say, 'Please let us know when your son is killed and then we can consider putting a camera there'.

Mr Brunstrom added: "If we changed the criteria to include slight injuries then the likelihood is we would have more camera sites. There is an emerging consensus that the time is now right to discuss revising the rules."

Mr Brunstrom said he was stepping down from his ACPO role 'because it's time someone else had a go. It's always a mistake to stay beyond your sell-by date'.

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