Car clamping banned, cameras phased out

This 'people's champ' eventually got his fine reduced to £100. It seems, with the government's new legislation, that rogue clampers are thankfully a thing of the past.

This populist measure is just one of a number to positively affect motorists following the new government's rise to power. The bill to outlaw firms clamping on private roads will come into force in the sinisterly-named freedom bill, due up for debate in November this year when the MPS get back from their long and ahem well deserved summer break.

In another classic Tory manoeuvre, albeit a less obviously sensible one, comes the news that speed cameras are to be phased out in certain counties. This is not necessarily an ideological move but rather a consequence of the coalition slashing road safety budgets by 40%.

Speed cameras of course not even divisive amongst motorists but rather uniformly hated. These silent coppers are responsible for the accounting of thousands of fines each year. Motorists will generally be pleased to see the back of them.

Road safety campaigners like the charity Brake are of course concerned at the potential increase in accidents.

But with conflicting evidence as to the efficacy or otherwise of these devices, many councils will opt to remove them, focussing instead on human patrols at traffic black spots. Between 1997 and 2008 the number of deaths on the roads remained fairly constant despite the heavy use of speed traps. There was however a drop in the rate of serious road injuries, although this has to be qualified by increases in car safety standards.

Statistics from Swindon also challenge the idea that speed cameras cut road deaths. In this borough only 6% of accidents we caused by speeding. Accident levels across the borough were also shown to be rising despite these traffic measures being in place.