Community Speed Watch

A safety camera partnership (also casualty reduction partnership, safer roads partnership) is a local multi-agency partnership between local government, police authorities, Her Majesty's Courts Service, Highways Agency and the National Health Service within the United Kingdom. Their aim is to enforce speed limits and red traffic lights by the use of cameras.

Initially established in 1999 as part of the so called National Safety Camera Scheme to enforce speed limits in the United Kingdom. Until April 2007, the partnerships were funded from fines generated from the use of traffic enforcement cameras in each area. Since that time they have received road safety grants.

Their stated objectives were to reduce deaths and serious injury by reducing the level and severity of speeding and red light running. The aim was to do this by deterring, detecting and enforcement of speed and red light offences using but not limited to camera technology and driver education programmes. Some also included the use of road safety engineering as a method of contributing to the aim.

The programme was started as part of the UK government's Road Safety Strategy that set targets of:

The reported casualty statistics 2009 showed that the targets had been achieved although the accuracy of the figures are disputed and the role that SCPs played is actually minimal. The 2009 figures for deaths and serious injuries were 44% lower than the 1994-8 average and deaths and serious injuries of children down by 61% on the 1994-8 average. A similar level of 10-year casualty reduction had been consistently achieved over each of the previous sixteen years, with a previous high of 43% in 1993 and the lowest recent figure being 38% in 2006. What has not been established is what part, if any, the partnerships played in achieving those goals, and whether the strong downward trend with the casualty numbers before the partnerships were introduced would have otherwise continued resulting in those goals being realised much sooner.

...
Wikipedia