| SEE ALSO |  | Speed cameras index
Have your say on speed cameras
Herts Speed Cameras
Bucks Speed Cameras Story
Beds speed cameras
| | | WEB LINKS | | Thames Valley Safer Roads
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external websites. | | | ESSENTIAL INFO | | If you are caught by a speed cameras you will receive a £60 fixed penalty ticket and three points on your licence or a court summons. If drivers reduced their speed by just 1mph there is up to 7% less risk of being involved in a serious crash. If you are driving at 40mph and hit a child, you are likely to kill that child. If you are driving at 30mph and hit a child, that child has a 50/50 chance of survival. If you are driving at 20mph and hit a child, that child is likely to survive and may be uninjured. | |  |
| | | Fixed camera sites | A1 Beeston
A1 Sandy
A1 Northill
A4146 Stoke road, Leighton Buzzard
A421 Roxton Road, Great Barford
A421 Bedford Road, Great Barford
A428 Turvey
A5 Chalk Hill
A5 London Road, Dunstable
A505 Church Street, Dunstable
A505 Dunstable Road, Luton
A505 Hitchin Road, Luton
A505 Stuart Road, Luton
A505 Stanbridge
A505 Stuart Street, Luton
A505 Totternhoe
A507 Arlesey
A5120 Park Road, Westoning
A5228 Montrose Avenue, Luton
A6 Ampthill Road, Bedford
A6 Haynes
A6 Milton Ernest
A6 Oakley
A6 Streatley
A6 Wilstead
B4540 Common Road, Kensworth
B4540 Farley Hill, Luton
B489 Tring Road, Totternhoe
B530 Brickworks Cottages, Elstow
B579 Toddington Road, Luton
B4 Bedford Road, Great Barford
C100 Flitwick Road, Ampthill
Crawley Green Road, Luton
Drovers Way, Dunstable
Grovebury Road, Leighton Buzzard
Langdale Road, Dunstable
Lowther Road, Dunstable
Meadway, Dunstable
Sundon Park Road, Luton
Vandyke Road, Leighton Buzzard Red Light Camera Locations
A428 GOLDINGTON ROAD, BEDFORD
A428 BROMHAM ROAD junction with GREYFRIARS, BEDFORD
A505 LUTON ROAD junction with WOODFORD ROAD, DUNSTABLE
A505 DUNSTABLE ROAD junction with HUMBERSTONE ROAD, LUTON
A505 DUNSTABLE ROAD junction with WALLER AVENUE, LUTON
BEECHWOOD ROAD junction with LINDEN ROAD, LUTON |
| | | | In addition to the mobile enforcement locations listed above the enforcement will continue at all the fixed camera locations within the county. | | |
| j budd, leighton buzzard | Sunday, 21-Nov-2004 19:46:43 GMT | | | perhaps the police should be spending as much effort on trapping those who have no licence,tax and insurance and mot as well,there are plenty of those around especially those who have no fixed abode ie our gypsy friends who know they will get away with any motoring offence by moving their caravan somewhere else!!!!!! |
| Geoff, Luton | Saturday, 20-Nov-2004 13:06:18 GMT | | | Interesting to note that at the mobile speed camera van site in Leagrave High St. Luton this week there were 6 Police Officers at the Luton end and 5 at the Dunstable end, plus presumably the camera operators. At least 11 police involved at one site!!!. No wonder the police have got a bad reputation for concentrating on motorists rather than genuine crime. |
| Suzie Queen, Luton | Thursday, 18-Nov-2004 16:05:00 GMT | | | whatever happened to the Green Cross Code, perhaps if less young children were out playing unsupervised, less would get knocked down. |
| Darren from Dickies, Luton | Wednesday, 17-Nov-2004 23:47:58 GMT | | | Speeding: The offence of exceeding the speed limit was sensibly created to improve road safety and offer guidance to drivers. When it is applied with intelligence it can do exactly that, and indeed generally until about 1985 that's exactly what we had. Much modern publicity suggests that perhaps 29.9 mph is safe and legal, while 30.1mph is dangerous and illegal. Many people accept the law at face value and condemn speeding drivers as dangerous. But thinking people all know that reality differs. Sometimes 40 mph in a 30 mph limit is a perfectly sensible speed. More frequently on other roads at other times 30 mph is dangerously fast. Speed limits are good. They provide excellent information to drivers about hazard density, and they guide less experienced road users away from exceeding safe speeds by wild margins. But speed limits are by their very nature arbitrary. In almost all circumstances the speed limit is not the best speed to drive at. As local conditions vary the optimum speed varies too. Setting speed limits properly: Most drivers understand well what speeds are safe to use in what circumstances, and can be observed all over the country setting safe speeds both over and under the limit every day. Traffic engineers have long known this and have a rule called the "85th percentile rule". It's based on a frequency against speed plot of observed vehicle speeds, usually passing a fixed point. The 85th percentile rule tells us that in typical circumstances 85% of drivers are not exceeding safe thresholds. Setting a speed limit at the 85th percentile level is usually safe and correct. But some responsibility for setting speed limits has been passed down to unskilled councillors, who set speed limits badly based on unclear thinking or even absurd prejudice. So my major gripe number 1 is that speed limits should always be set by skilled traffic engineers with due regard for 85th percentile considerations. They should always be set to consistent national standards, so that similar roads anywhere in the UK will tend strongly to have similar limits. There are presently far too many new 30 mph and 40 mph limits on roads that used to be National Speed Limit (NSL), where a responsible driver at a responsible speed may be prosecuted since the limit was set using absurd criteria. These roads are often policed by speed camera, which is simply evidence of the current ridiculous obsession with numerical speed. Drivers are being expected to believe that what was safe yesterday at 60 mph is now dangerous and against the law at 45 mph. In most cases it simply isn't true, and everyone who thinks about it knows so. In this way, many important speed limits risk being brought into disrepute. The competence and usefulness of speed limits: As I have discussed, speed limits form a useful part of a road safety strategy. But in recent years speed limits have been promoted way beyond their level of usefulness and competence. Perhaps you have read about the "Peter principle" where staff that perform well are regularly promoted to positions of higher responsibility until they end up in a job where their level of competence is exceeded. Then the promotions stop, but people do not perform well in a situation which in often more demanding than their skill. And so it is with speed limits and speed enforcement. Speed limits are properly a useful guide, and an easy weapon to use against those exceeding safe thresholds. But they have been erroneously promoted to much higher status. There are all sorts of assumptions and claims about the safety benefits of slower traffic, very few of which have ever been delivered. It's complete nonsense to suggest that 31mph is dangerous and 29mph is safe. It's even crazier to suggest that 31mph is dangerous today on a road where 60mph was permitted yesterday. There's so very much more to safe driving than that. Many people - including police, camera partnership staff and ordinary drivers have received the message that speed limits and speed enforcement are supreme (or at least of towering importance) in road safety. The truth is that they are of pretty minor significance, with a dozen or more other factors being far more important. How to use the speeding laws to make the roads safer: I propose getting rid of the dumb cameras and giving clear guidelines to the police to issue speeding tickets to drivers who are using excessive speed dangerously, carelessly, recklessly or aggressively. This might include ignoring lone cars at 110 mph on empty motorways and issuing tickets to drivers passing school gates at 3:45pm at 32 mph. The conditions at the time of the offence make a far larger contribution to the degree of danger than the number on the sign. A motorway in fog and busy traffic might be extremely dangerous to drive at 69 mph, while the same motorway a few hours later when the fog and the traffic have both cleared might be perfectly safe at 100 mph. The Police are frequently very aware of dangerous uses of speed, but current enforcement policies make no distinction whatsoever. Doubtless there are some traffic officers who do apply their intelligence and discretion, but this has become the exception rather than the rule. There are dangerous cases of speeding out there. We should be using the law to address the problems. But prosecutions of safe drivers at safe speeds just cause misery and do not provide any social benefit. Worse than that, valuable speed limits, the law and the police are being brought into various kinds of disrepute. Virtually no one regards a driver with a modern speeding conviction as a dangerous individual to have on the road. Best Regards, Darren. |
| Malcolm Ford, Lane End | Monday, 28-Jun-2004 15:46:24 BST | | | I like most sensible drivers agree that 30mph limits should be observed as should 40mph in built up areas. When dual carriagways are restricted to 50mph for no reason other than to provide the local Chief Constable with his salary bonus for reducing costs it is a disgrace. As in the earlier comment I would far prefer traffic police who are allowed to use their judgement to catch me exceeding the limit. I use the Stokenchurch to Marlow road every day and the biggest danger is Mr Magoo driving at 30mph in a 60 zone forcing normal drivers to attemt overtaking manouvers that are dangerous. |
| Darren, Biggleswade | Saturday, 26-Jun-2004 17:24:20 BST | | | I think speed cameras are a good idea in built up areas, especialy near schools or other areas where pedestrians or cyclists are likely to be. Are they really necessary on open roads? I think more effort should be put into takling bad and aggressive driving. I often drive on the Autobahns in Germany, I think the standard of driving there is far higher than on our roads - and if you have an accident, you have to call the Polizei who do prosecute ! |
| B Jones, Ilkeston | Friday, 04-Jun-2004 19:40:27 BST | | | Speed Cameras are there to raise more cash ,just another Blair tax, remember the song when when we voted him to power "things can only get better" that was better fines, better speed cameras , better taxation, better wars, better poverty for those of us that work for a living,better bigger fuel prices,better bigger household bills,better bigger wheelie bins that only get emptied when there full and stinking every second week,better bigger cheques for those who come to settle in this country ,Better reduction in Swimming pools and park areas used by children, I could go on and on,If you feel you need to comment about my list then you must be one of the 1% who is better off under Blair, to me with New Labour and Blair the future is Blur. BJones. |
| munawar, | Tuesday, 04-May-2004 12:20:08 BST | | | I was driving on stuart street and approached the gatso camera which another driver was beside me as approaching the camera flashed but I was doing under 30 with the other driver doing more then 30 had reached the castle st roundabout while I still was way behind so who gets the ticket |
| , | Thursday, 08-Apr-2004 14:33:13 BST | | | with regards to the current camera locations and your/casualty dept. statistcs should these mobile cameras not be located near schools instead of on main 'open' roads? |
| David, Dunstable | Wednesday, 14-Apr-2004 12:32:47 BST | | | if cameras are so great, then why are road deaths on the increase in beds + thames valley? |
| A traffic management foreman, Bedford | Monday, 02-Feb-2004 11:24:00 GMT | | | it as been proven that speed cameras do not reduce traffic speed, or improve safety quite the opposite they force sharp breaking,which creates its own problems.I work every day on the roads for over 11 yrs from motorways to country roads , and have to face every type of driver.in an ideal world speed cameras wouldn't be needed, however we live in a fast lane society . to which the police have found an easy way of making money out of society,which is more cost effective than catching crimminals.there are more problems with motoring than just speeding.driving standards in general are very poor,to which we are all guilty some times esspesilly with todays pressures.but instead of appraoching someone like myself who faces motorist for a living, goverment in there beaurocratic ways elect someone who sits behined a desk with just facts and figures to support them , not like ! my! self a number of years behined them on the front line having to face todays motorist.there are far more effective ways of reducing speed in traffic,SPEED CAMERAS are a effective money making scheme for the police.I invite the BBC to spend just a short time with me and my job to see first hand how todays motorist really drives ,and what we as a society can do to improve things. |
| Chris, Dunstable | Tuesday, 23-Dec-2003 09:51:09 GMT | | | I agree with speed cameras - my philosophy is that they are there for a good reason. My gripe is people who are late for work, and take any risk to cut around or undertake, regardless of speed limits. On Luton Road Dunstable there are 30mph signs on every second lamp-post but they are still ignored. |
| Sanjay, Luton | Wednesday, 03-Dec-2003 10:57:06 GMT | | | I agree with comments made by Dave and Jim about the need for more cameras and their primary purpose: to reduce fatalities. After all, it is only because drivers are not willing to observe road safety limits that such measures are having to be implemented. Hopefully, in future there will be some form of an interactive technology such as radar that prevents vehicles from travelling beyond the specified speed limit. |
| Stephen Kittoe (aged 54 & 3/4), Leighton Buzzard | Monday, 05-Jan-2004 16:14:34 GMT | | | The reason people speed is the design of many, but not all, cars. Most cars are hard to keep at 30mph or less. Others, like my old Discovery, are easy. Similarly, my old VW Polo is easy. The problem is the response and tractability of cars: in future cars should be required to have less aggressive responses to light pressure on the accelerator . When the Government actually takes on car manufacturers I will have some time for these anti speeding campaigns. Meanwhile we are being bored into rebellion! Please pass this message to the appropriate Minister. |
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