Assignment 2: Article 2

Preston top speed camera league table

Compared to the other regions in Lancashire, Preston has the highest amount of speed cameras.

In Preston 35 speed cameras are spread across the whole of the twelve regions.

Speed cameras are one of the methods that help to reduce and keep road accidents at an absolute minimum.

In the twelve Lancashire regions there are 192 speed cameras.

For those of you unfamiliar with the Lancashire region, the twelve districts in Lancashire are:

• Burnley
• Chorley
• Fylde
• Hyndburn
• Lancaster
• Pendle
• Preston
• Ribble Valley
• Rossendale
• South Ribble
• West Lancashire
• Wyre

The map below pinpoints where each of the 35 speed cameras in Preston are located.

View Larger Map

Lancashire Partnership for Road Safety is an organisation that promotes road safety. The group constantly assesses roads and judges whether more safety implements need to be put in place to enable roads to be safer.

Linda Sanderson, Communications Manager for the group, argued: “It is not a lottery where cameras are sited each one is representative of a road side memorial.”

Ms Sanderson reiterated that there couldn’t be such a thing as too many speed cameras as they save peoples lives.

“Speed cameras are just one of the implements that make our roads safer for everyone,” Ms Sanderson added.

What speed cameras do?

Speed cameras penalise drivers who are driving at over 10% of the required speed limit on a road. For instance if someone is driving at 34 mph on 30 mph road, then this will result in 3 points as well as a £60 fine.

This is one of the seven speed cameras on Blackpool Road which ensure that drivers stick to the roads speed limit.

“Criteria”

Ms Sanderson explained that there are strict criteria to be abided by when deciding whether or not a road needs a speed camera.

“The criteria for an installation for a camera is a minimum of four fatal or serious injuries on a 1000 meter stretch of road in the previous three years,” she said.

“Many people don’t realise or know this. It is part of a very strict government protocol that has to be followed prior to installation,” she added.

Ms Sanderson added that a lot of decision and thought is put into deciding the appropriateness of a speed camera, as they are expensive to install.

Linda Sanderson (picture above) said that getting inside drivers heads' is the hardest task Lancashire Partnership for Road Safety faces.

“Constantly reviewed”

If drivers aren’t speeding on a particular road where a speed camera is situated, then the camera will be removed, as the road will be regarded as safe.

Ms Sanderson revealed that the statistical evidence shows that speed cameras in Lancashire are reducing accidents and saving lives.

“Currently the cameras have reduced fatalities by 71% compared to prior to installation. KSI’s (killed or seriously injured) are also down by 48%. This is great news,” she said.

Ms Sanderson added that Lancashire Partnership for Road Safety receive two or three phone calls a week requesting for more speed cameras to be implemented.

Speed cameras that have saved lives

The speed camera situated on Blackpool Road, Larches has reduced accidents and saved lives in Preston.

Three years before the speed camera was introduced the amount of road accidents per year was 15, however three years after the speed camera was imputed the amount of accidents has fallen to 5.

Similarly the speed camera on London Road is Preston has reduced road accidents. Three years before the speed camera was in place there was a total of 41 accidents, however after three years of their being a speed camera this decreased to 26.

You can view these statistics for yourself at http://www.lancashire.gov.uk/environment/roadsafety/mp.asp.

‘Don’t cause accidents or catch people out’

Ms Sanderson acknowledged that some people believe that speed cameras can actually cause accidents, as some drivers dramatically reduce their speed when they see one.

This news article explains how speed cameras may cause accidents

http://www.lancashire.gov.uk/environment/roadsafety/mp.asp.

Ms Sanderson said that mobiles are in place before and after the speed camera, to ensure that drivers don’t just slam the breaks on and hope to get away with it.

“If a speed camera isn’t highly visible then drivers cannot get prosecuted, drivers have to be able to see the camera, they cannot be hidden,” she said.

Ms Sanderson added that as speed cameras are there to prevent accidents and drivers must keep to the speed limit or face the consequences.

“Revenue maker”

The government and police make a lot of money from speed cameras as of the amount of drivers who speed and have to pay the fines that come alongside the points.

“Cameras are constantly being criticised as being criticised as being a revenue maker for the government or police but the people who tend to criticise are the people who are caught and not the law abiding drivers,” said Ms Sanderson.

Assignment 2: Article 1

Lancashire roads safer than ever

Roads in Lancashire are now safer than they have ever been and one of the reasons behind this is the work done by Lancashire County Council Road Safety Group.

The group are on course to meet the government’s road casualty reduction targets for 2010.

Road accidents are classed as fatal, serious or slight. The statistics show that road accidents in Lancashire have decreased in each of these categories.

Alan Fisher, Principal Road Safety Adviser, said: “Lancashire County Council casualty data is showing that the authority is likely to meet the Governments 2010 target.

He added: “This has been achieved by all of the partners for road safety working together towards this common goal.”

The government set the targets in 2000 whereby they expected each highway authority to meet.

The targets are:

* 40% reduction in the number of people killed or seriously injured in road accidents.

* 50% reduction in the number of children killed or seriously injured.

*10% reduction in the slight casualty rate.

The timeline below shows, from 1999 until 2007, the amount of casualties via road accidents in Lancashire as well as KSI casualties. The government’s 2010 targets are also displayed. Road accidents that are classed as fatal or serious are deemed as a KSI.

What happens if targets aren’t met?

Lancashire’s Road Safety Engineer, Dave Cronshaw, revealed that if the government targets are not obtained, then there would be a full investigation by the Department for Transport to identify the reasons and indeed people responsible.

“Our aim is to reduce a fatal to a serious, a serious to a slight and a slight to a damage only. We believe we have been doing this and the statistics back me up in that sense,” he added.

Dave Cronshaw has been a road safety engineer for over 15 years.

"Accidents are random"

Statistically the number of road accidents in Lancashire isn’t always reduced from the previous year.

For instance, the amount of road casualties in 2005 stands out because it saw an increase of over 200 more casualties than in 2004.

“The reason behind this is because accidents fluctuate and they are random,” said Mr Cronshaw.

"Preston one of the highest"

Out of the twelve districts in Lancashire, Preston is one of the most popular hotspots for road accidents to occur.

Mr Cronshaw reasoned this was because of the size of the town, both in terms of population and geographic area.

“Typically the Preston district would be one of the highest ones. This is because it has a range of very dense population and densely populated areas,” he said.

Out of all the Lancashire districts, Preston has the highest amount of traffic signals, pelicans and 20mph zones. This can be found on page 17 of the Lancashire Road Safety Strategy.

The zebra crossing on Adelphi Street helps to prevent road accidents from occurring.

"Young male drivers are the problem"

It is young male drivers who are the most prone to causing road accidents.

“The young male driver is our major problem. If you’re a young teenager you take your friends out in your car to have some fun,” Mr Cronshaw continued.

“Essentially by doing this, young male drivers speed and by doing this you run the risk of taking your friends out for an accident,” he warned.

However, Mr Cronshaw reasoned that this is not the case with all young male drivers and is only applicable to a small minority.

It only takes a small minority, though, to cast a negative stereotype over a group of people, and for young male drivers in Lancashire this seems to be the case.

Mr Cronshaw added that drivers mainly have accidents within the first 18 months of passing their test.

“This applies not only to young drivers but also to older drivers. Getting through the first 18 months is crucial,” he said.

"Roads of concern"

Mr Cronshaw revealed two roads that Lancashire County Council view as common accident hotspots in Preston:

• M6
• A59

This map indicates where each of these roads are situated.

View Larger Map

“The M6 has had a couple of serious accidents over the past twenty years, while the A59 is regarded as dangerous as its status as an inter-urban route,” Mr Cronshaw revealed.

“It is a major road with a big population and lots of vehicles. If there are a lot of vehicles and a lot of people then there is more chance of an accident happening,” he added.

“Magic bullet”

There are lots of safety procedures in place to prevent accidents and to ensure they are kept to an absolute minimum.

Mr Cronshaw said that the general view at the Lancashire Road Safety Group is that every safety implementation from speed cameras to traffic calming contributes to making roads in Lancashire safer.

“What everyone wants is the magic bullet, but unfortunately no-one has come up with a safety measure that stops there being accidents. I doubt there will ever be anything that could ever do that,” he said.

In the slideshow below, Mr Cronshaw discusses some of the safety measures taken by the Lancashire Road Safety Group, and highlights why he deems mini-roundabouts as the best safety implement in reducing accidents.

"Future prevention"

One safety measure in the pipeline is intelligent speed adaptation. This will slow a vehicle down if it is going above the speed limit.

However, Mr Cronshaw said that this technology is at least 10 to 15 years away.

He added that one way to reduce the number of young driver accidents could be to reduce the number of passengers they are allowed to take in a vehicle for their first 18 months of driving.

However, he did acknowledge the downside of this being the difficulty to police it

In Northern Ireland, once a driver has passed their test they are classed as a restricted driver for a year. Novice drivers cannot go over 45mph and must display an R plate to signal that they are a restricted driver.

To find out more detailed information about the law, you can via http://www.opsi.gov.uk/sr/sr1998/19980380.htm.

Mr Cronshaw believes that this could reduce the number of young driver accidents in Lancashire if the government implemented this.

Biker Grove

The LEP reported on Thursday, November 13 that a silver Claude Butler mountain bike worth £600 has been stolen.

The mountain bike was taken from Studholme Avenue, Penwortham on Tuesday, November 11.

This map shows were the bike was taken;

View Larger Map

Last Orders Please

With all the doom and gloom that currently stagnates in the economic puddle, it’s not an uncommon sight to see people staring into the bottom of their pint glass.

However, with many pubs across the United Kingdom calling last orders and selling up, the British public may soon be deprived of one of the small comforts they have.

Yes that’s right, due to the current economic plight pubs are shutting down and a frighteningly rapid pace! It was reported in the business section of The Guardian, last Sunday that “In 2007 there was a net loss of about 1,400 pubs while the figure for this year is expected to reach more than 2,000”.

One of these pubs is my local “The Eldon” on Eldon Street, Plungington. It has been closed for at least three months now and the ‘For Sale’ sign is still looming outside of it. I rang up to enquire about the asking price, I was told a quote of £6,500. This seems a small amount at first, but when you take into account that you would have to pay £7,000 for inventory (which is stock), £2,000 for glassware, plus utility bills as well as other purchases that may be needed, for instance new furniture…the cost quickly escalates. So to purchase the pub I would need at least £20,000, which I think is a steep amount and an unworthy investment.

I deem it unworthy and so do many others. The two thousand pubs up for sale aren’t being purchased. This doesn’t surprise me as potential buyers don’t want to buy because can see the reason’s behind seller’s wanting to sell.

It’s not just the economy in disarray that is the singular reason for the British public opting not to go their local. Off-licenses’ with their cheap alcohol prices and drink offers have resulted in many people deciding to drink in the comfort of their own homes. The smoking ban too may have contributed, as well as the stricter drink driving laws.

An article today on the BBC news website about the increasing pub closures in Ireland, summed up the reasoning behind this nicely:

“Not just in Ireland, but in parts of the UK, there is an increasing tendency to drink at home rather than in a bar.
As the credit crunch saying goes: "Staying in is the new going out."
You can still smoke at home, supermarket alcohol is cheaper and if you can't afford a taxi, there is always the couch.”

The article was an interesting read and I’d advise everyone to read it, the link for it is http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/7658139.stm.

When banks start shutting down, it is frightening, but when pubs start closing it is even more frightening! Well for some maybe….

This clip from "Only fools and horses" typifies one of the traits a local pub in the sense that there is always a lot of laughter.

Business Improvement District On Its Way?

It was reported yesterday in the Lancashire Evening Post (LEP) that there are plans for a Business Improvement District. If given the go-ahead it would approximately propel £1.5 million into the city centre. Several institutions have got behind the proposals, with the University of Central Lancashire being one of these. However, some organisations including Marks and Spencer have yet to pledge their support. The vote is to take place at the end of next month. For the project to be approved over 50% of the landowners and businesses have to agree to the proposals.

This made me stop and think, where is the catch? Why would businesses want to collectively put their money into a pot to improve Preston town centre? Well the simple theory is that for businesses it is short term pay for long term gain. By improving the local area this will result in businesses making more capitol.

As we all know we are currently in a time of hardship, well economically at least! This is due to the credit crunch and the stock market being in disarray. I am only speculating but are businesses keen for a Business Improvement District because people are spending less? After all this is resulting in their profits being lower than usual. By backing the proposals they know that it is going to benefit them, as it will enhance sale figures. Are they doing it for themselves, or are they doing it to improve Preston town centre?

In fact, what does need to be improved in Preston town centre? Personally, nothing instantaneously springs to mind. If indeed the project is given the go-ahead I for one will be keeping a close eye on what the money is spent on.

References:

Lancashire Evening Post, Tuesday 30th September 2008, LEP Business Week page 1.
http://www.chamber.org.uk/pics/Business%20Improvement%20Districts%20Information.doc

Additional Information

The blog will have a local focus on my adopted town of Preston, so I will be blogging about business news in the North West area, with Preston being the core area of my concern.

Welcome to my blog!

Hello everyone my name is Kyle and i'm a journalism student. As part of my studies at UCLAN University I have to create a blog for one of my modules called "The Digtal Newsroom". The blog will be about business, enjoy!