Even when they are shown not to be justifyed, I cannot see them giving up on the revenue… 
they really don’t make a lot of money out of speed camera’s. That’s a common misconception. They make some money but something like 10 million profit (not total revenue), which is f*ck all in the real world of policing budgets.
It may be a small dent to them but it is a lot to me…
I guess they have their uses BUT they are mismanaged for revenue in my opinion
Example: they can only place them where there has been a serious ( read fatal ) accident in the past 3 years ( as I believe)
Two years ago a kid on a scooter killed himself on Trinty Road Wandsworth going to fast and fecked it up where the road narrowed from 2 lanes to one - hit a ped crossing light.
What do the council do ? Install a Gatso on the OTHER side of the road - 500yards away to catch traffic in the other direction wher the road is just single carrigeway, I have lived in that area for 10 years …There has NEVER been a serious accident from traffic coming in that direction…grrrr Pure revenue.
Oh I tell a lie - twpo people were tragically killed when a tree fell on them 200 yards further towards Tooting - VERY speed related !
The thing is though - they’re painted bright yellow, the camera sites are listed, there’s signs all over the place telling you when there’s camera’s etc - getting caught really shouldn’t happen with all this info.
Speed cameras may just bring in enough to justify their cost and put up new cameras - but think about the money it saves them on traffic rozzers. That’s not to be sniffed at.
Meh, you can prove anything with statistics. And by the time you disprove it, it’s too late, your chief constable has got yellow boxes all over the county and is snickering into his tea whilst counting the revenues.
oliorchard, that argument’s a bit like the “if you’ve got nothing to hide what are you afraid of” one used to strip civil liberties everywhere. Maybe I want to go as fast as I’d like to at that particular spot and the law is an ass? More than once I’ve found myself accelerating out of danger to find those white lines on the road - slam on the anchors and put yourself at risk or keep going and possibly take a fine? Should that really be the choice?
the law may be an ass, but it is still the law. If it came to the situation you describe surely £30 is cheap to keep yourself safe if it’s necessary.
Oliorchard, yes you are right that speed cameras are yellow and speeding is bad etc. My point is, they cannot stop people using their mobiles, driving drunk, driving with no insurance, driving whilst under the influence of drugs, driving without insurance, driving stolen vehicles, driving overloaded vehicles, driving without due consideration etc, etc…traffic cops can but because they dont bring in the same revenue than cameras and are costlier they are gently being phased out.
What about people killed by speed cameras…
I mean this in a couple of way how many people have been looking away from the road to check their speed then bang…
May be this is a little unrelated but, the one they put up just outside my parents house, some guy lost control of his bike and straight into the camera he went and died…
Think of the alternative, chaps. More traffic police hiding behind trees doing their hair at unknown places. I’d get in a lot more trouble then.
While I was riding down the M18 the other day, (going a little faster than I should have been) I flew under a bridge only to see
a copper onthe other side with a radar gun laying in wait.
The copper pulled me over, walked up to the bike, and with that classic patronising smirk, asked:
“Runway too short?”
To which I replied, “I’m late for work.”
To which he asked, “What do you do?”
“I’m a rectum stretcher,” I responded.
The copper was surprised and confused. “A what?
A rectum stretcher??
And just what does a rectum stretcher do?”
“Well,” I said, “I start by inserting one finger, then I work my way up to two fingers, then three, then four, then with my whole
hand in, work side to side until I can get both hands in, and then I slowly but surely stretch the hole, until it’s about 6 feet.”
Then the copper asked questioningly and cautiously, “And just what do you do with a six-foot arsehole?”
To which I politely replied, “You give him a radar gun and park him behind a bridge…”
Speeding ticket: £60
Court costs: £45
Look on copper’s face: Priceless
I disagree, there is plenty of money in this, not just for the government but also for the private companies running these things. 
I suspect that if it didn’t make a ****load of money for somebody they wouldn’t bother with it.
Come close to an off before as have been concentrating on my speedo to make sure the tax collectors dont get me and not noticed the wet manhole in the middle of a bend until too late, camers dont save lives they cause accidents as most people know where they are and just speed up between them then stand on their brakes just for the 25m of lines. As far as I can see the extra cameras installed on the Embankment are because of dozy tourists getting out of the right of a parked coach or pissed idiots stumbling out of the Walkabout and getting hit, hardly a direct result of speed.