West Mercia Safer Roads Partnership

The Safer Roads Partnership is made up of West Mercia Police and twelve other public sector organisations from the force area who have combined resources to reduce the number of casualties caused by road collisions. Operations are funded by the four local highway authorities (Herefordshire, Shropshire, Telford & Wrekin and Worcestershire) using grants from the Department for Transport (DfT).

The Partnership is directed by a joint-agency independent partnership board and operates under guidance from DfT and local protocols, including procedures for the selection and operating of safety camera sites. While the Partnership works in close co-operation with the force, its operations are not police-led or police-run.

Each year the financial cost to the community for all injury collisions in West Mercia alone is over £250 million, as well as untold personal suffering and loss.

In some quarters there has been negative publicity regarding safety camera operations but public opinion surveys - both nationally and locally - show consistently high levels of support for the use of safety cameras to reduce casualties.

Local and national experience confirms research reports showing that safety cameras make people drive slower and as a direct result reduce crashes and help protect road users. Safety cameras only come into effect when the speed limit has been exceeded and the law broken.

The Partnership now has a broader road safety role, and is developing strategies to not just deliver enforcement at a limited number of locations but to address broad casualty reduction and road safety issues affecting the whole roads network.

For more information on the Safer Roads Partnership, including information on the whereabouts of static and mobile cameras as well as answers to some frequently asked questions, visit their website at http://www.srpwestmercia.org.uk/