Drivers “will welcome M40 cameras”

DRIVERS will welcome a plan to put average speed cameras between junctions 3 and 4 of the M40, motoring bodies have said.

As they measure average speed between two points instead of at a single point, but an anti-speed camera group said lower speed was no guarantee of safety. The Highways Agency hopes to have the fixed cameras in place by April 2011. The motorway has no permanent devices in Bucks.

The cameras also helped smooth traffic flows, he said, as motorists drive at the same speed.There was a massive drop in crashes and injuries since temporary cameras were stationed on three bridges between junctions 2 and 4.

There were four and five deaths between November 2006 and October 2008 – and this fell to one in the following ten months – when cameras were first operating; ‘Serious’ smashes decreased from 17 to ten; ‘slight’ collisions from 117 to 62 with a consequent fall in injuries: 25 to 13 ‘serious’ and 221 to 100 ‘slight’.