FIGURES released on the effectiveness of speed cameras in the district show most have had little or no impact on serious accident rates.
Essex County Council has compiled accident rates for each fixed camera in the district as part of a nationwide Department for Transport initiative.
They show that for most cameras, the average annual accident rate has remained much the same before and after they were installed.
No serious accidents - where someone was killed or badly injured - were recorded in the three years before the speed camera was installed in Thornwood Common High Road.
After the camera was installed in 2003, there was one serious-rated accident recorded every financial year except 2003 to 2004 and 2009 to 2010.
An annual average of 0.7 serious crashes was recorded in Manor Road, Chigwell, before the camera was installed, with the average rising slightly to 0.8 since its installation in 2002.
But for the camera near the junction of Highfield Place in Epping High Street, the annual average has dropped from 1.3 to just 0.1 serious accidents since the camera was installed in 2002.
Bill Davies is chairman of the Waltham Abbey Neighbourhood Action Panel, which has called for a speed camera to be installed on one of the corners of the town’s notorious Crooked Mile.
He said: “I would rather keep (speed cameras) than have them withdrawn.
“I think there’s a need for them at that straight stretch up to the roundabout by the Abbey Gardens and up through the Crooked Mile itself.”
But he said the effectiveness of other traffic calming measures such as speed-activated flashing signs should be looked into as well.
Kevin Raby, 52, a retired policeman who lives in Sewardstone Road in Waltham Abbey, has also spoken out about the need for safety measures in the Crooked Mile nearby.
He said the figures for existing speed cameras did not surprise him.
“Everyone just brakes before the camera and drives on,” he said. “They’re just money-making.
“I don’t think speed cameras are the answer. I think it’s visible police patrols.
“It would be nice to find out how much time the police spend patrolling.”
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