Police Scotland has switched off more than 100 speed cameras across the country, despite internal documents showing officers acknowledged this would likely lead to more drivers breaking speed limits. The decision matters because it affects road safety monitoring at sites with histories of collisions, including near schools, and comes despite objections from local communities and councils who fear the move puts pedestrians and children at greater risk.

Officers concluded that deactivating cameras, known as making them "dormant", was the only way to establish whether they were genuinely reducing injury collisions. Freedom of Information data revealed that at the affected sites there had been seven fatalities, 73 serious injuries and 162 slight injuries over five years, while some cameras recorded rising speeding offences shortly before being switched off. A camera at Neilston, East Renfrewshire, near a primary school and nursery used by 550 children daily, was deactivated despite council "major reservations", while a camera at Bargeddie, North Lanarkshire, installed after a fatal accident, was switched off even though police expected speeds to rise again. Police Scotland said the process is "evidence led and data driven", while campaign group Living Streets called the decision "puzzling" given cameras can cut road incidents by up to 39 per cent.