00:00This is New John Street West, part of the A4540 inner ring road between Lucas Circus, Dartmouth Circus and Aston
00:08Expressway.
00:09Average speed cameras operate in both directions, monitoring thousands of journeys made towards workplaces, schools, shops and the city centre.
00:18More than 18,500 offences were recorded here during 2025.
00:23Around 7,000 more have followed this year, equivalent to more than 1,000 every month.
00:30The figures were obtained from Birmingham City Council through a Freedom of Information request.
00:36They represent recorded offences rather than necessarily 25,000 different drivers,
00:42because the same motorist could have been caught more than once.
00:46Even with that qualification, no other road in Birmingham has produced a total on this scale.
00:52These figures come amid a wider argument about how Birmingham roads are being managed.
00:58The council has reduced speed limits from 40 to 30 miles per hour on 27 major routes.
01:05Almost every remaining 40 mile an hour limit has disappeared.
01:09The principal exceptions are Aston Expressway, the Quinton Expressway and a section of the Queslip Road,
01:15forming the boundary of Walsall.
01:17Some residential roads and local centres have fallen from 30 to 20,
01:21with the strategy calling for more 20 mile an hour limits on unclassified roads.
01:26Existing cameras affected by the new 30 limits have been recalibrated,
01:31while separate plans envisage greater enforcements on busy A and B roads.
01:36Critics have described the combination of lower limits, additional enforcement and transport restrictions as a war on motorists.
01:44The council denies the changes are anti-car, saying their purpose is not to punish drivers,
01:50but to reduce deaths and serious injuries.
01:53Birmingham declared a road safety emergency in July 2024,
01:57and adopted its road harm reduction strategy in March 2025.
02:02The council says lower speeds give drivers more time to react and make collisions less severe.
02:08Average speed cameras work differently from fixed cameras.
02:11They read a vehicle's number plate at separate points and calculate how quickly it travelled between them.
02:17Braking briefly before accelerating again will not prevent a ticket if the average remains above the limit.
02:24The council argues that their visibility encourages drivers to comply over a longer distance,
02:29rather than slowing down at one isolated spot.
02:32It says the system is intended to improve behaviour and reduce the number of people killed or seriously injured.
02:38For motorists, however, the spread of cameras and changing limits can make familiar journeys feel different.
02:44Others believe limits have been lowered too widely, including on dual carriageways,
02:48originally designed for faster traffic.
02:51That leaves a question.
02:52Is Birmingham creating safer streets,
02:55or placing an unreasonable burden on people who depend upon their cars?
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