New as of 21 April 2018
Within a few weeks I will show my final analysis confirming that cameras cause more collisions than they prevent, at www.fightbackwithfacts/the-speed-camera-delusion
After a long delay due to illness I have almost finalised my detailed analysis of 3,848 cameras and can prove beyond doubt that they cause more collisions than they prevent. I will publicise it all as widely as possible within weeks, including on this web site at www.fightbackwithfacts.com/end-game.
I have tidied up existing material, though there is more to do and I have removed one or two pages that are no longer relevant.
I have also added a page with many downloadable documents about how Hampshire Police fixed cameras lead to significant increases in fatal and serious collisions – and how they prefer to ignore it!
Sincerely
Idris Francis
My email address is now idris.francis@btinternet.com.
See New Updated and Corrected for changes and dates
This web site exposes and corrects misleading information and analysis in official publications and statements in relation to subjects of interest to me and to which I believe I can make a worthwhile contribution. It serves as a single source for all of the data and analysis I have accumulated over twelve years spent fighting against speed cameras and includes great deal of official data, wildly optimistic – not to say ludicrous and bizarre – claims plus a great deal of my own analysis and comment.
As you will soon discover, it is difficult to understand how many of the claims I expose were ever believed, palpable nonsense that they were. To take only one example, the DfT’s figures of £7,500 for a speed camera for one year but £14,000 for a vehicle activated sign (a far less complex device needing virtually no maintenance and none of the vastly expensive enforcement system of cameras) was self-evidently preposterous but that did not stop Transcom’s self-confessed “bear of little brain” Gwyneth Dunwoody printing the figures in their 2006 Report and calling for more speed cameras on that basis.
It is of course up to the reader to judge whether those responsible for some of the more outlandish nonsense could really have been that stupid, or instead were bent on misleading us in pursuit of their own or their organisations’ objective. And indeed, given the consequences for life and limb on our roads of policies based on very seriously flawed analysis, whether these failures amounted variously to breach of duty of care, misconduct or misfeasance in public office or Corporate Manslaughter (applicable just as much to Government bodies as to private businesses).
Every effort will be made to ensure easy access to all the material through a logical structure. In general the first page of each subject will be an overview, followed by links to documents on this site or elsewhere. These documents will, where appropriate, be arranged in a logical sequence – chronological in the case of correspondence or reports, otherwise alphabetically.
This site is very much a work in progress and I am in the early stages of adding a great deal of information I already have on file, especially on speed cameras. For that reason some subject headings are simply a declaration of intent devoid of content until I am able to put it in place. If you need any particular information but cannot find it, please ask – I may have it but not yet had time to upload it. My email address is irfrancis@onetel.com.
Casualty data based on police Stats19 records is issued annually by the DfT and is available from their web site, but almost exclusively in tabular (and recently in Excel) form – URL’s are given elsewhere. Because a picture is worth a thousand words this site provides what official sites rarely do – graphs of all available official data, nationally from 1926 and by police area at least from 1989. Please note that I hold many graphs comparing individual police areas with others or with national trends, available on request.
In addition there will be a great deal of statistical analysis exposing the reality behind the false claims of speed camera effectiveness and other road safety make-believe.
The best starting point for casualty and speed camera material, under Camera Overview, is Britain’s Road Safety Tragedy whose sections B to J cover many different aspects of flawed official policies and claims. Relevant documents prefixed B. to J. are available on the same page. Some of these and many other subjects are accessible from the left hand index column, which also contains a link to a Log of changes and additions.
While at this stage this site is largely my own work I would be happy to add relevant comment and information from others, at my sole discretion. I should however make it clear that this is not a Blog – I do not have time to run one or to monitor comments. Feel free to email me however. Instead the site is intended to be a source of documents, data and and other information for those who find the site themselves or whom I refer to it to avoud having to copy the information to each in turn.
To the best of my belief there are no errors of my own contained in these pages, only official ones, but if any are brought to my attention I undertake to correct them immediately, with comments and explanation where necessary.
If you wish to comment, to correct what you might believe to be an error or any kind or to provide additional information please do so to me at irfrancis@onetel.com. All of this information and much more is available on CD in exchange for a stamped addressed envelope and a blank CD.
This web site is dedicated to the memory of my wonderful mathematics master Thomas Davies who, in the mid 1950’s gave me and my fellow pupils one of the most important pieces of advice I have ever received:
“When you have worked out the answer you must always ask yourself – does it make sense?”
The trouble now is that a very great deal indeed of what we are told, whether about the European Union, the euro, speed cameras, energy policy, man-made global warming or anything else, makes no sense at all – as you will find in these pages.
My efforts to fight at least some of the nonsense with which we are bombarded each and every day are self-financed and unpaid. I neither seek nor would accept financial support.
Note my changed email address
idris.francis@btinternet.com