Key Scottish Safety Camera Programme Statistics, 2011

Public perception of safety cameras^[15]

As part of the 2010-11 Scottish Crime and Justice Survey, data were collected regarding public perceptions of, and attitudes toward, safety cameras. 3,249 respondents were asked whether they agree with the use of speed cameras (76% agree) and red-light cameras (88% agree) on Scotland's roads. They were also asked whether they agree or disagree with the following statements:

• Road safety cameras are an easy way of making money out of motorists (59% agree)
• Road safety cameras help prevent accidents (70% agree)
• Road safety cameras help discourage dangerous driving (71% agree)
• People should see the use of road safety cameras as a good thing (82% agree)
• There are too many road safety cameras (48% disagree)

From these results it seems that understanding of the purpose of safety cameras is mixed. More people agree that safety cameras help to prevent accidents, discourage dangerous driving and are a good thing than disagree with those statements. However, more than half agree with the statement that safety cameras are an easy way to make money from motorists. And while more people disagree with the statement that there are too many cameras than agree with that statement, a large group of responders were undecided^[16] (22%). The responses to this last statement were clearly and significantly different across age groups and between genders (p<0.001), with a greater percentage of males than females agreeing that there are too many cameras. People aged 16 to 24 were most undecided about this question, with 29% of males of this age expressing neither agreement nor disagreement with this statement.

Overall, 76% of respondents stated that they agree with the use of speed cameras on Scotland's roads (17% disagree, the remainder undecided). Females were more likely to agree (83%) than males (67%) while those aged 45 to 59 were less likely to agree (70%) than those aged 16 to 24 (80%), 25 to 44 (75%) or 60 and over (79%).

The gender difference and age difference are both statistically significant (p<0.001). The most support for the use of speed cameras came from females aged 16 to 24 (88%) while the least support came from males aged 45 to 59 (60%). These differences between combination age-gender groups are also statistically significant (p<0.001).

Support for red-light cameras was greater across all responder groups. 67% of the total agree strongly with the use of red-light cameras, along with a further 21% that agree slightly (making 88% overall agreement). Differences between age, gender and combination age-gender groups were all statistically significant, with older females showing more agreement than younger males.