SPEED camera on the Cornagrade Road at Enniskillen are catching out, on average just over nine speedsters a week.
And, the number of detections is rising year by year with, on average, a £60 fine dished out to the erring motorist each time.
The figures for Northern Ireland, for the past 3 calendar years, obtained by the ‘Belfast Telegraph’ were released by the PSNI following a Freedom of Information request.
They highlight what the paper calls, ‘speeding hotspots’ across Northern Ireland, with four ‘hot spots’ profiled in Fermanagh. (There are other camera sites).
Of the four, it’s the mobile speed camera on the Cornagrade Road that’s busiest.
For the year 2010, it detected 446 speeding drivers, in 2011, 495 and, for last year, 497.
By comparison, numbers detected at two of the other three sites were markedly lower, with figures for site on the A4 at Lisbellaw plummeting from 119 in 2010 to 11 in 2011 and rising slightly last year to 38.
Even more dramatic are the figures for the Belfast Road beyond Maguiresbridge. The total number of detections for all three years is 59, spread evenly over that period.
But, as against that, the Derrylin Road out of Enniskillen speed detection camera was also busy. In 2010, it detected 293 speedsters, in 2011, 151 and last year, 99.
So, what is the public’s general reaction to speed cameras?
Neville Armstrong, who is the vice chairman of the Fermanagh Policing and Community Safety Partnership, felt speed cameras were justified.
“They raise public awareness in a way that it does detract speeders from their activities although, in saying that, there is a perception in built-up areas of an imbalance with rural areas where there are no cameras or very few on some of the faster main roads.”
He referred to the main road out of Kesh to Ederney where motorists ‘accelerate once past the 30 mph sign’.
Hence his welcome for the Lack Women’s Group who highlighted speeding through the village with the help of a road safety grant, resulting in speed cameras being placed there.
And, it had the desired effect.
“It’s an inter-generational thing, speeding. It’s not just young people. Older people sometimes don’t realise the speed they are doing. The cameras put a restraint on driving behaviour.”
However, as someone who travels regularly in England, Neville said he did not want an over-kill of cameras. He favoured public education and public awareness.
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