Policies and Procedures
In this section you will find information on national guidance, as well as local policies and procedures relating to the operation of safety cameras.
- Deployment Strategy
- Local Policy Documents
- National Rules, Guidance and Best Practice
Not all camera sites are in operation at the same time. We prioritise camera resources among the existing fixed speed and mobile camera sites, ensuring that cameras are deployed to the areas where they are most needed. Each site is categorised as Red, Amber, Green or White according to a combination of:
- The number of collisions resulting in personal injury at the camera site in the previous three years, using the guidelines for installation of a new camera site as a baseline.
- The mean 85th percentile speed (the speed at which 85% of vehicles are travelling at or below) according to speed surveys conducted at each site over the last three years in relation to the ACPO enforcement threshold.
- The number of offences detected by the camera during the previous three years.
Deployment is then prioritised among fixed speed sites as follows (resources permitting):
- Red sites will receive a minimum of 4 deployments per month, each deployment lasting up to 4 days.
- Amber sites will receive a minimum of 2 deployments per month, each deployment lasting up to 4 days.
- Green sites will receive a minimum of 1 deployment per month, each deployment lasting up to 4 days.
For fixed speed camera sites in operation as of 10 May 2010 (307, including bi-directional sites), the split is as follows:
- Red = 11% of all sites
- Amber = 21% of all sites
- Green = 37% of all sites
- White = 31% of all sites
The documents in this section form the basis of the working arrangements for the operation of safety cameras within the West Midlands Metropolitan Area. These documents are in PDF format, please download Acrobat Reader to view them.
The Partnership Agreement is in effect a long term service level agreement (SLA), signed by the core partners in September 2002. Each of these core partners (the seven local authorities, Highways Agency, Her Majesty's Courts Service and Police) signed up to the aim of reducing killed and seriously injured casualties by 300 over the 5 years commencing October 2002. The agreement established the roles and responsibilities of each partner organisation within the West Midlands Casualty Reduction Scheme (then West Midlands Casualty Reduction Partnership) under the cost recovery scheme which operated in the West Midlands from October 2002 to March 2007.
The Casualty Reduction Scheme is now overseen by the West Midlands Road Safety Partnership. The roles of each partner relating to the operation of safety cameras, along with local policies on site selection and deployment are set out in the Safety Camera Protocols.
National Rules, Guidance and Best Practice
The documents in this section cover national rules and guidance for use of safety camera enforcement technology. These documents are in PDF format, please download Acrobat Reader to view them.
Prior to April 2007, the West Midlands Casualty Reduction Scheme deployed camera technology in accordance with the Department for Transport's "Handbook of Rules and Guidance for the National Safety Camera Programme for England and Wales". From 1 April 2007, the National Safety Camera Programme ceased to operate, and DfT Circular 01/2007 was issued to provide guidance on best practice on the deployment of speed and red-light cameras after this date. These guidelines cover the way in which new sites are selected, along with visibility and signing of existing camera sites and have been incorporated into the Safety Camera Protocols used within the West Midlands (see above). They do not restrict or fetter the police’s discretion to enforce covertly anywhere, at any time.
The Association of Chief Police Officers have issued a code of practice instructing deployment officers on the correct use of enforcement technology to comply with regulations and the conditions of type approval.
