SINCE it is obvious to anybody who takes the trouble to think that road safety is better served by looking at the road ahead for real hazards than watching the speedometer and scanning for covert spy cameras it is not surprising that the amazing proliferation of speed cameras in Shawforth has failed to prevent further accidents (Lancashire Evening Telegraph, December 1).

In the seconds it takes to check the speedometer an unseen hazardous situation can quickly develop, drastically cutting the time available to take life-saving evasive action.

If you are running the gauntlet of five cameras in 3.75 miles a lot of your time is going to be spent looking at the speedometer; all you need to know about your speed can be seen through the windscreen. The only exception to this is in fog when there are no external visual clues.

This juvenile obsession with speed enforcement combined with the failing number of professional Road Traffic Police is the main reason why road casualty figures are not falling when they should be. I quote the following from one page of the excellent Safe Speed Road Safety Campaign website run by Paul Smith (ref 1):

From the earliest available data the British road fatality rate has fallen steadily and reliably. At about the same time that speed cameras were introduced to British roads the fatality rate reductions began to tail off.

In 1993 the former trend in the roads fatality rate would have led to the prediction that by 2003 road deaths would have reduced to between 2,000 and 2,500 per annum (refs 2 and 3). Instead we have a serious loss of trend and roads fatalities have been "stuck" at about 3,400. Partial and provisional figures for 2003 appear to indicate a substantial rise in roads fatalities.

Based on common sense, the evidence from Shawforth and the above national evidence of the negative effect of speed cameras as presently employed it is easy to conclude that the Shawforth cameras have indeed failed.

Those responsible for their installation have wasted a lot of money while harassing and threaten lots of law-abiding motorists to no good effect.

Their efforts should be directed towards improving road safety awareness among the young, improving sight lines and visibility, and removing unnecessary and useless distractions.

GRAHAM CHIVRALL, Rock Terrace, Shawforth.