Redlingfield and Horham and Athelington councils, along with other local parish and town councils, have started a campaign to have the speed/safety camera on the A140 at Brome turned back on.
That camera was never about catching speeding motorists and fining them, it’s always been about saving lives and making the roads safer for everyone. The camera was originally installed in 2004 by Suffolk County Council but last year it was transferred to Suffolk Police. It had been an accident black spot. According to the County’s road safety team, who were responsible for the camera up until 2011, six people were killed or seriously injured there in the 4 years before the camera was installed and in the six years following its installation only two serious accidents occurred. That’s still too many but a great improvement and we believe having the camera there has saved lives.
In the last few months since it has been turned off traffic on the A140 has started to speed up and it has become much more dangerous for drivers trying to join or leave the A140 at the Brome turn or Devil’s Handbasin, both very busy junctions with a lot of local traffic.
I was almost wiped out there recently by a speeding Jag. We found out in May that the came a had been turned off. When we asked who made the decision, we were told it was a police matter. When we asked why it had been turned off and why no locals had been consulted we were told that the decision, taken in November, was a “confidential” matter that could not be shared with the public.
We were also told that it wasn’t needed as there had never been any serious accidents at that location and that since 2000 only one accident had occurred and that had been “slight”. We couldn’t understand why the police thought no serious accidents had happened when everyone knew that several people had died and others had been seriously injured. It turns out the police had decided to only count the one accident that had happened right beside the camera. So they ignored all the accidents that happened at the junctions for Brome, the Devils Handbasin and Rectory Road and any on the southbound A140.
Let us know what you think at pc@redlingfield.suffolk.gov.uk. (Story from Autumn 2012 Athelington, Horham & Redlingfield News).