More on KentOnline
More on KentOnline
The number of drivers caught speeding on the Sheppey Crossing has dropped by nearly 70% since the cameras were first switched on four years ago.
But the latest figures show the number of motorists caught breaking the 70mph limit actually increased during the winter lockdown - when people in Kent were urged not to travel - compared to the same period the previous year.
In total, the number of motorists snapped by the cameras in the year to May fell to 649 – down a whopping 462 on the previous year.
It is a fall of about 68% since they were first switched on, on May 30, 2017.
But despite the county being under strict instructions to stay home and only travel if essential between November and March, the number of drivers flouting the limit was still 259 – nine more than the same period the year before.
Figures from police show the most motorists were caught last October, just before the second national lockdown, with 146 vehicles speeding. No drivers at all were snapped in July.
The latest figures show an average of 54 motorists a month were snapped by the cameras in the year to May.
That compares to an average of 167 drivers a month in the first year of the switch-on.
Unlike in previous years, more people were caught speeding while driving off the Island than onto it – 242 Sheppey-bound, compared to 407 heading towards Sittingbourne.
The cameras were installed as part of a £350,000 scheme after Highways England reviewed safety on the bridge.
It reinstated the 70mph limit after a temporary 50mph limit, imposed in 2015, following the deaths of mother and son Deborah and Marshall Roberts on the A249, was found to be seeing a rise in accidents.
A spokesman for the Kent and Medway Safety Camera Partnership, which manages the cameras, said on the whole it saw a “good compliance” of the speed limit on the Sheppey Crossing.
“The benefits of the average speed camera system is clearly evidenced there,” he said.
“We are making positive steps to ensuring we reduce the number of people killed and injured on Kent’s roads.”
Those doing up to 86mph may receive a conditional offer of three points and a £100 fine, or speed awareness course. Up to 95mph it is three points and a £100 fine, but offences above that are dealt with by the courts.
