A Community Speedwatch volunteer has criticised the Mayor of Lincolnshire’s ‘tongue in cheek’ comment about scrapping speed cameras.
Dame Andrea Jenkyns shared a clip on social media in which she said that speed cameras should be scrapped when she takes over powers from the soon-to-be-scrapped police and crime commissioner role, writes Local Democracy Reporter Oliver Castle.
In her video – captioned ‘speed cameras have been put on notice’ – she said: “I’m at the highways conference in Birmingham and there’s some speed cameras. When I’m police and crime commissioner, I want to get rid of these.”
The Local Democracy Reporting Service approached the mayor for comment and was told that the post ‘was made as a tongue in cheek remark – hence the wink emoji used on the original post’.
The post itself attracted a number of replies questioning the merits of the idea and defending the role of speed cameras.
Speedwatch volunteer and Weston parish councillor Chris Dicks criticised the post.
Coun Dicks, a former police officer, said: “She says these sorts of things, makes a statement, gives no reasons, no argument and just waits for the flak to come at her and then she comes back saying ‘everybody’s having a go at me’.”
Coun Dicks defended the role speed cameras can play in boosting road safety – favouring ‘average speed’ cameras.
He added: “They are probably the best you can possibly have because it does mean that people do have to drop their speed because they can’t work out how fast they can maintain, or how slow they can maintain to actually go between the two cameras.
“Whereas, a speed camera, if they know they are, they tend to slow down prior to them and then speed up afterwards.”
He added that “any cameras” which “have the potential to reduce speed” are better than no cameras at all.
