DRIVERS in Dorset have paid almost £4 million in fines after receiving nearly 66,000 tickets in one year for speeding and jumping red lights.

New figures show 65,984 offences were picked up by safety cameras in the first full year of their operation.

That's the equivalent of more than 10 per cent of Dorset's population getting tickets.

Dorset Safety Camera Partnership is claiming a big success in reducing deaths and serious injuries on the county's roads.

It is claiming:

a 45.3 per cent reduction in deaths and serious injuries near cameras which have been set up for a year; and

a 25.7 per cent cut in deaths and serious injuries where cameras have been working for two years.

Pat Garrett, head of fixed penalties for the Dorset Safety Camera Partnership, said: "We have achieved a great deal in our second year of operation. We have seen a reduction in the number of casualties at safety camera sites throughout Dorset."

The partnership - which brings together councils, the NHS, the Highways Agency, magistrates and the Crown Prosecution Service - runs 131 fixed, mobile and red-light cameras.

In the past year, it has introduced 11 new fixed cameras, four new red-light cameras and the new ProLaser III camera which can monitor speeds longer-range.

Mr Garrett pointed to a survey of 1,000 people which said 78 per cent supported the use of cameras to reduce casualties - even though 260 of those surveyed had received fines.

He said the partnership was working towards a government target of a 40 per cent cut in deaths and serious injuries by 2010, and a 50 per cent cut in the number of children hurt or seriously injured.

He added: "Our strategy for 2003-04 was a six per cent overall casualty reduction and we've achieved that target.

"But we readily accept that while we have had two successful years, with everything like this you do get peaks and troughs. We can't get complacent."

First published: October 28