THE people who install speed cameras are not exactly universally popular. On Thursday, the Daily Echo reported that almost 66,000 people were fined for speeding or jumping red lights in 2003-04 - bringing in almost £4 million in fines.

A lot of those 65,984 people will be raising familiar complaints. That the cameras are more about raising money than saving lives. That cameras are put in the wrong places. And that speeding drivers are a soft target and the police should spend more time catching those who drive without insurance or MOTs.

Pat Garrett, head of fixed penalties for Dorset Safety Camera Partnership, insists lives are being saved.

He points to statistics that say speed is a factor in one third of road accidents.

And he points out that each death on the roads affects around 500 people, as well as costing the public a good deal of money.

"When we started, the number of people being killed or seriously injured on UK roads was 3,500 a year. That's equivalent to 10 jumbo jets dropping out of the air. If we had a jumbo jet dropping out of the air 10 times a year, there would be uproar," he said.

The partnership says there has been a 45.3 per cent reduction in the number of people killed or seriously injured at sites where speed cameras have been operational for a year, and a 25.7 per cent reduction where cameras have been in place for two years.

One of the major successes claimed for the scheme is in the west of the county, on the A37 Dorchester to Yeovil road. There had been seven deaths on that road within nine months. Since the introduction of speed cameras, the partnership has seen a 75 per cent reduction in deaths and serious injuries.

As for the criticism that cameras are a revenue-raiser or a "stealth tax", he points out that the partnership can only keep enough money to cover its operating costs. This includes adding new cameras as well as running the existing ones, but the new sites have to comply with government guidelines and be approved by the Department of Transport.

Of the £3.95 million raised in 2003-04, the Treasury will take £844,000.

Mr Garrett points out that as well as catching speeding drivers, the partnership is running an educational campaign called Dying to Drive?, aimed at teenagers who will soon be driving. The reaction in schools has been consistently popular, he says.

But is driver behaviour changing? "There's no doubt there are more people who are aware and observing speed limits, but there are still far too many who are not," Mr Garrett said.

The partnership's operations project manager, Johnny Stephenson, confesses to having received two speeding fines before he worked for the organisation. He says a "cultural change" is needed among Britain's drivers.

Mr Garrett adds: "I have changed my driving habits since I've been doing this job and now it's second nature to me."

He says speeding rarely gains the driver much advantage, and points to the example of the Puddletown bypass.

"If you are doing 80mph as opposed to 70mph, you save 59 seconds. What are you doing with that 59 seconds, when you could potentially cause a death and affect 500 people's lives?" he said.

"We don't try to antagonise people but we do ask on occasions 'Why were you speeding?' Generally you find people say 'I don't know'."

First published: October 30