My Garston - Local News Magazine for Garston, Herts

Safety Camera Partnership Reverses Speeding Convictions

The Hertfordshire Safety Camera Partnership is reversing around 3500 speeding convictions issued to people caught speeding by a safety camera (site 313) on the B653 Lower Luton Road, Harpenden. An internal audit of all Traffic Regulation Orders (TROs) failed to produce a valid order for the site - 150 metres south of Bowers Heath Lane, southbound - from August 19 2004. On August 25 2005, enforcement was stopped while this was investigated.

This particular stretch of road is signed as a 30mph speed limit. According to government legislation, if there is a ‘system’ of street lighting, a traffic order is not needed to make the speed limit and enforcement legal. However, after carrying out a thorough investigation, and taking legal advice, the conclusion has been reached that this site does not have a ‘system’ of street lighting and therefore a traffic order is needed to validate the signed 30mph speed limit. Because of this, a decision has been made to refund all those people who were convicted of speeding on this stretch of road between August 19 2004 and August 25 2005. County Councillor Stuart Pile, Executive Member for Highways, Transport and Rural Affairs said: “I want to stress that all those people who were convicted of speeding during this time, were exceeding the signed 30mph speed limit, but as it seems that the speed limit was not legally enforceable, it is only right that the convictions are overturned. “The camera is there to slow people down and save lives. People have been seriously injured on this road and the number of accidents has fallen significantly since the camera was installed. “We have a total of 74 static speed camera sites in Hertfordshire; we have checked the traffic orders for them all and this was the only one affected. A new order has since been introduced. “It has taken some time to get to this stage from when we first discovered there was a potential problem but we needed to make sure that there wasn’t an order, and indeed if one was even required. We didn’t want to mess people about by saying one thing and then finding out something else. It’s only now that we’re actually in a position to act on the information we have.” Around 3,097 Notices of Intended Prosecution (NIP) were issued to drivers from this camera and the resulting fixed penalties were paid, and an additional 218 people issued with NIPs opted to go to court or were automatically referred to court. Letters will be sent to all drivers who were convicted of speeding from this camera between August 19 2004 and August 25 2005. The letters will contain information about how to claim a refund and have points removed from licences. A new TRO was introduced at this site on February 10, 2006 and enforcement has been resumed. Motorists who think they may have been affected are advised to wait for a letter which they should receive by Friday (February 22). People are asked not to call before then, unless their address has changed. Anyone who has moved, or is expecting a letter and does not receive one, should telephone the county councils customer service centre on 01438 737321 / 01923 471321 FACTS:- In the three years before the camera was installed (between January 1 1999 and December 31 2001) there were two collisions in which someone was killed or seriously injured (KSIs) and seven other collisions in which people were injured. In the latest three year period since the camera has been in place (to the end of September 2007) there were no KSIs and there has been one collision in which one person was injured. The weekly average speed before the camera was installed was 41.35mph. The weekly average speed at April 2007 was 32mph.

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