However, theory does not match practice. Apparently, ever since a speed camera was installed on a motorway in UK, the number of car accidents has increased in that area, The Sun reported.
The Gatso that appears to be guilty of doubling the number of casualties in the neighborhood is located on the southbound M11 on the Essex-London border. It was installed in 2001 and five years after, 16 accidents and 24 casualties happened. Before the speed camera was there, only 13 accidents and 14 casualties took place in the area.
Appealing to the Freedom of Information Act, Paul Pearson who happens to be the motorists' anti-Gatso campaigner forced the authorities' hand to show the figures to the general public.
He complained the speed camera represented a danger and was putting the people's lives at risk in the police's attempt to make money. At the spot where the camera is placed, between Junctions 5 and 4 more exactly, the motorway becomes narrower and instead of three lanes, it has only two so the speed limit is no longer 70 miles per hour but 50.
“The figures speak for themselves. That camera is clearly there to make money because the figures show it is not there to prevent accidents. In fact, it is doing the opposite,” furiously claimed.
In order to continue his protest, he contacted both Essex Police and Under Secretary of State for Transport Jim Fitzpatrick. Unfortunately for him, both of them considered it wasn't the camera that increased the number of crashes.
Still, is this just a pure coincidence or is the Gatso really "doomed"?!
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