The recent correspondence about the speed camera at Lea raises more than a few questions about the flawed approach of the Safer Roads Partnership in West Mercia who are the operators of that camera. The Safer Roads Partnership are fixated with camera enforcement, they do apparently run other campaigns but has anybody ever heard of them?

The crossing attendant at the school is angry because he is continually faced with drivers who he believes are breaking the speed limit, a pretty clear indication that the camera is not actually working - it is not slowing drivers down in the very place that it should be slowing them down.

This is probably because it is in the wrong place, it affords no protection at all in the parts of the village where it is most needed.

A bright yellow speed camera erected in a clearly visible location near to or at the school crossing would indicate a genuine interest in road safety. It would slow cars down.

There are technical and regulatory reasons which govern the location of speed cameras, unfortunately common sense never enters into the decision making process, Government, so called Safety Camera Partnerships, Road Safety Campaigners and many a private individual would gain no satisfaction from a camera which merely slowed drivers down, fines, lectures and penalties are much more rewarding.

The driver who was prosecuted for driving at 33mph is understandably sore, the Safer Roads Partnership website clearly states that they work within the guidelines set out by the Association of Chief Police Officers - these indicate that they will not prosecute unless the speed limit plus 10% plus 2mph is exceeded except where exceptional circumstances apply, that would be 35mph not 33mph - unless there were exceptional circumstances.

These guidelines exist for a good reason, the last thing that anybody wants is to have a driver staring slavishly at his or her speedometer and ignoring all of the other things that are going on around him or her.

There is much anecdotal evidence of the Safer Roads Partnership ignoring the guidelines and prosecuting regardless, one can only speculate why.

All of this is great news for the privately owned Speed Awareness Course operators, by not applying the ACPO guidelines there are even more motorists queuing up and parting with their cash to avoid having points on their licenses.

The local operator TTC are one of the largest in the country, they operate out of very impressive premises in Telford and their Chairman is a director of another organisation, Criminal Justice Training Solutions, he has resigned from his role as a Magistrate but according to the CJTS website 'He is regularly involved in training for magistrates'.

It is a shame to see normal law abiding people at odds with one another rather than questioning the efficacy of the Speed Camera Partnership, the burgeoning Speed Awareness Course industry and all of the other road safety agencies right through to Westminster.

I cannot think of a single responsible person who does not think that fixed location speed cameras located outside schools are a good idea - when was the last time you saw one? When was the last time you saw a mobile camera outside a school? Now ask yourself when was the last time you saw a mobile camera van sat on a bridge or a lay by on a clear piece of dual carriageway?

Regular camera enforcement at Harewood End seems to have enjoyed some success and it is heartening to see at least some drivers slowing for the 50mph limit at Pencraig but you cannot help but feel that cameras outside schools would not generate such a high volume of prosecutions and so it is not practised by the camera partnerships.

John Miller

Ross on Wye