On 28^th January 1896, Walter Arnold from Kent became the first person in Great Britain to be successfully charged with speeding. Travelling at approximately 8mph, he had exceeded the 2mph speed limit for towns and was fined 1 shilling, plus costs.

In 1903 the maximum speed limit was increased to 20mph and in 1934 a general 30mph speed limit was imposed on roads in built up areas, a limit which remains to this day.

The first speed camera was introduced on UK roads in 1992 and since then communities have become accustomed to see both fixed and mobile speed cameras on the roads of Wales. These cameras are placed where people have been killed or injured, where excessive speeds have been recorded, at a site where there are recorded concerns by the community or for special operations.

There is a misconception about these cameras; that they are only there to make money or placed in areas where they will capture the most offences. The most successful cameras in Wales are those which record the LEAST amount of offences, not the most. Where we enforce, there is greater compliance with the speed limit which we would like to see across the road network as a whole, not just at a small number of locations. As such, GoSafe is refreshing its deployment strategy, and we will be going to key locations where road traffic collisions have occurred to enforce offences of speeding, use of mobile phones or not wearing seatbelts.

There is also a perception by some motorists that our cameras cannot enforce without the presence of speed camera sign. This is untrue and we encourage all motorists to assume that where they see a speed limit sign or in an area with street lighting, there could also be an enforcement camera.

GoSafe are about to undertake a refreshed deployment strategy with our mobile cameras, where we could be visible anywhere, anytime but would like to reassure the motoring public that we aim to be at the right place, at the right time: for the right reason.

"We know that where there are mobile cameras present motorists comply with the speed limits and with our cameras being present on only 2% of the road network of Wales we strongly believe that our cameras should be able to extend their effectiveness across a larger section of the road network. 

There is never a need or an excuse for speeding and this new strategy is aimed at improving the compliance of the speed limits by motorists across the roads of Wales for the safety of all."

Teresa Ciano, Partnership Manager

We don't want your money, we want to make Welsh roads safer and through this new deployment strategy we hope that compliance on all roads will increase, meaning a safer journey for all road users.