Speed cameras are being turned back on in a big way. Despite the public funding squeeze elsewhere, new digital speed cameras will replace many of the old-style film units currently used on UK roads.

And a new investigation claims new speed camera numbers will surge by close to 50% in the next 12 months. Has the war against motorists re-started?

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Prosecutions to climb

It depends on who you ask. Any idea that speed cameras are being quietly ditched should be ignored. Fresh digging from the Telegraph claims the number of new-style digital cameras could surge. The new cameras will cost less to run as they contain no film, with the potential to snap speeding motorists indefinitely.

Partnerships from Cheshire, Norfolk, Suffolk, Northants and Nottingham all told the paper they expect prosecutions will rise. Many will grumble about the news, seeing it as an attack on motorists and easy cash for councils. But AA press spokesman Andrew Howard says people should remember that speed cameras often get a warm welcome from some.

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Local support

"The lowest support they have got [from AA members] is 69%," says Howard. "Currently it is at 74%. Many localities will campaign for speed cameras in their area, but then complain about them when they're used in a nearby town. Nationally they are unpopular, but locally they are popular."

Increasingly it is the people who speed who pay for the implementation of new digital speed cameras. That's because revenue from speed awareness courses - around 1.8m of UK motorists have attended them since the start of 2010 - can be directed at speed camera installation costs.

"In 2010 the Road Safety Grant stopped," explains Howard, "and local authorities had to find the money from elsewhere. Many had stopped [installing them] altogether. Now, revenue from speed awareness courses are being directed at speed camera installation costs. The people who commit the offences are paying for the cameras."

Vested interests

But Keith Peat, spokesman for the Association of British Drivers and an ex-traffic cop, told the Telegraph the move was being pushed by lobbyists from the road safety industry, "which includes the manufacturers of the devices and the partnerships, [they] have a vested interest."

"These cameras can't see how an accident happened, they can't see whether you were drunk or if you were careless. This Government is continuing the war on the motorist and it is counterproductive."

Cars most likely to be caught speeding



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