Letter: It's time for the facts about speed cameras

Letter: I've no issues with a speed camera as a concept when they are sited in appropriate places but there are far better methods of controlling traffic speeds.

I came across a set of lights in Spain at the entrance to a village where there were no road junctions. They were radar controlled and if you are travelling above the speed limit they turned to orange. If you haven't slowed down by the second set of lights they turned red. Simple and effective.

When it was proposed to install the speed camera at Bennett's Bank I wrote to the safety camera partnership and asked for a breakdown of the statistics they had issued concerning accident rates.

I asked that rather than stating that there had been X number of deaths and serious injuries on that stretch, that they should break that down and give yearly figures for the previous three years showing how many deaths, injuries requiring hospitalisation and of those hospitalised how many had to stay in overnight or longer, showing the accident trend.

The written response was that they were unable to give me those figures as they were supplied by the police and were clumped together.

So just what figures were considered so critical that Bennett's Bank was the worst place in Shropshire for accidents - as it must have been to be the first recipient of a speed trap?

It's about time we discussed publicly the value of the safety camera partnership and whether we want to fund it in the future. It is after all taxpayers' cash. So, Telford and Wrekin Council, what are you going to do?

Michael Wilkinson

Ketley