Improved Safety across the City
1 Feb 2005

Councillor Len Gregory, Cabinet Member for Transportation & Street Services, today agreed eight new safety camera sites across the city.

In agreeing the report he said,

"We take the safety of all road users very seriously and have looked carefully at the accident history of the sites in question. In all cases they have exceeded four or more people killed or seriously injured during a three year period. This represents significant trauma and tragedy for those people's relatives and friends. By installing safety cameras at these locations we hope to lessen the likelihood of such sad events in the future."

The sites will be located as follows:

B4114 Washwood Heath Road, Washwood Heath
A441 Pershore Road, Selly Oak
B4121 Bell Hill, Weoley Castle
B4124 Harborne Road, Egbaston
A38 Kingsbury Road, Tyburn X 2 sites
A41 Warwick Road, South Yardley
B4217 Edgbaston Road, Edgbaston

The cost of the camera housings and cameras is borne by the West Midlands Casualty Reduction Partnership – which consists of officers from the Metropolitan authorities, WM Police, West Midlands Ambulance Service and the West Midlands Magistrates Committee. Enforcement of speed limits through the safety cameras is carried out by WM Police.

Adam Warwick of the Partnership said:

"These new camera sites were approved under the Partnership scheme as a measure to improve the safety of these roads for all users. Over the last three years there were more than 300 collisions along these stretches, of which over 60 were serious or fatal. Evidence from other camera sites around the region suggests safety cameras can reduce the number of serious collisions by up to 39% and we are confident these new sites will have a positive effect."

Councillor Gregory added,

"Excessive speed is a key safety issue, which contributes to more than 400 deaths and 4000 serious injuries on the Nation's roads each year. We must do all we can to reduce risks for both drivers and pedestrians."