We are frequently asked the sorts of questions you see below. Many of these are subject to myth and we've given you the actual facts.
Myth: Safety cameras are just an easy way of making money for the police.
Fact: Safety cameras are there to save lives and make the roads safer not to make money.
Neither the police nor any other partners in the Casualty Reduction Partnership make any profit from speed and red light fines. All fine revenue is passed to the Treasury. The Casualty Reduction Partnership is funded by a grant from the Welsh Government (WG). This means there is no incentive for casualty reduction partnerships to place cameras anywhere other than where they are needed to improve road safety.
All the funding we receive is invested into making the roads safer through Education, Engineering and by targeting Enforcement where it is needed most to reduce speeds, educating motorists about the dangers of speeding and going through red lights, and running road safety initiatives.
Myth: Safety cameras are hidden to catch motorists out and are placed where they will record the most speeding offences.
Fact: Casualty reduction partnershipsplace speed and red light cameras where people have been killed or injured or where excessive speeds have been recorded.
Cameras are not hidden to catch drivers out or placed where they will record the most speeding offences. Cameras are there to encourage motorists to drive within the speed limit so the most successful cameras are those which record the LEAST number of offences not the most.
There are camera-warning signs on routes where safety cameras are in operation and all fixed cameras are mobile units are clearly marked. We publish the locations of mobile and static cameras on our website. However, we ask motorists to drive within the speed limit at all times not just at camera locations.
See Camera search for more information
Myth: Casualty reduction partnerships are led by the police, which means that police officers are wasting all their time pursuing innocent motorists instead of investigating real crimes.
Fact: Casualty reduction partnerships are not led by the police but instead are made up of equal partners from the police, local authorities, magistrates courts and Welsh Government.
Wales Road Casualty Reduction Partnership work is carried out by police personnel who are employed by and paid for by the Partnership. Therefore police work is not being overlooked in favour of speed enforcement but in fact, more police time is being freed up to focus on other crime prevention and detection duties.
Remember that breaking the speed limit or going through a red light are criminal offences, which kill and injure thousands of people every year.
Myth: Cameras are not used on the most dangerous roads.
Fact: The Wales Road Casualty Reduction Partnership place speed and red light cameras where people have been killed or injured or where excessive speeds have been recorded. We can operate at road works, schools and areas of community concern throughout Wales.
Myth: Cameras are not popular.
Fact: Public support for safety cameras in Wales area is high. See Public Opinion FAQ’s for further information.
Myth: Speed is not a major factor in road collisions.
Fact: There is overwhelming evidence to support the relationship between speed and both the frequency and severity of road collisions. A report in 2000, The Effects of Drivers' Speed on the Frequency of Road Accidents (Taylor, Lynam & Baruya), conclusively demonstrated the link between speed and crash frequency. As speed increases, the risk that a crash will occur also increases. The findings reflect the importance of drivers having time to respond to the unexpected. At higher speeds there is less time to react.
Basic science dictates that the faster an object is travelling the greater the force of any impact and the greater the impact the more likely it is that the object and what it collides with will be damaged or even completely broken.
Applied to a moving vehicle involved in a collision this means that the higher the speed the greater the damage will be to the vehicle and what it collides with and the greater the risk of death or serious injury for victims.
Modern medicine has made great advances into saving the lives of those seriously injured. Surgeons can mend broken bones and stem bleeding and measures can be taken to improve conditions causing breathing difficulties. However, doctors are yet to be able to fix many head injuries or repair multi-organ failure that can result from high impact collision. Prevention is the only solution to these.