Channel 5’s latest documentary takes aim at a familiar roadside fixture—and asks whether speed cameras are more about safety or squeezing drivers’ wallets. Airing Wednesday at 8 PM, Speed Cameras: Are They Out to Get You? pulls over in Sutton-in-Ashfield, home to Britain’s most profitable speed trap, to examine its efficacy. But the real question the program poses is broader: has the focus shifted from stopping reckless drivers to nabbing marginal speeders?
The documentary’s scope extends beyond one town’s cash cow. It tackles the hot-button topic of the recently implemented 20mph limit across nearly 8,000 miles of Welsh roads. It also puts the £1.5 billion spent on speed awareness courses under the microscope, questioning the value—and the motive. Human traffic cops get stacked up against their automated counterparts, raising questions about manpower versus machine power. And, for those feeling targeted, the film reveals which four UK police forces have opted out of fixed cameras entirely.
Perhaps most intriguing, the program sits down with the person who first brought speed cameras to Britain back in 1990, giving viewers a long view on how enforcement has evolved. Whether these devices will vanish from UK roads altogether is another question the documentary floats—one sure to keep drivers on high alert.
Speed Cameras: Are They Out to Get You? airs Wednesday, 11 June at 8:00 PM on Channel 5.
