Cambridgeshire has long had a poor reputation for road safety because of the high number of accidents, but a new study reveals that this is largely a result of high traffic levels. By taking into account the number of miles travelled within the county, Cambridgeshire has actually been shown to be actually safer than the UK as a whole. New research by a Cambridge graduate student, Stephane Hess as part of his MPhil in Statistical Science, has revealed that speed cameras have had a major impact on road safety in Cambridgeshire, reducing the number of collisions at accident black spots by just over 30 per cent. The new research confirms the findings of previous studies which have established that speeding is a major cause of road accidents. The findings have been welcomed by Cambridgeshire Police, who are increasing their use of speed cameras as part of a national campaign. The government aims to reduce the number of people killed and seriously injured on the UK's roads by 40 per cent by the year 2010. Sergeant Andy Chatfield, Safety Camera Project Manager said: "Last year, 62 people died and 597 people were seriously injured on the roads in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough. Although this is an improvement on 2000, it is still too high a number. Our focus has always been, and will continue to be, to make excess speed socially unacceptable. Those who drive too fast threaten not only their own lives but also those of other road users and pedestrians."
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