In response to the letter by R Millbourn from Marlborough (Gazette, November 6) I would like to take this opportunity to dispel R Millbourn's misconceptions of how we operate the Safety Camera Project in Wiltshire.

The enforcement vans are not just on "fast roads," many of them are in urban areas. Sites are selected according to the casualty history and criteria approved by DoT.

The vans are always parked in safe places to avoid causing any obstruction or danger to other road users. Sites are also risk assessed for health and safety.

Furthermore, our enforcement vans do not "hide" in any way.

As for enforcing outside schools, statistics confirm that very few injury/fatal collisions occur outside or in the vicinity of schools those that do are rarely due to excess speed.

However, enforcement is carried out in areas where there is a collision history on routes to and from schools.

In 2002, we achieved a 33 per cent reduction in the number of children killed or seriously injured in road traffic collisions in Wiltshire.

We deplore all bad driving and will always deal with any offences disclosed based on the evidence available.

However, the primary concern of the Safety Camera Unit is the issue of excess speed the objective is to educate and inform all road users about the need to obey speed limits.

There is nothing revolutionary going on, we are only telling people to obey the law.

Those who do not heed this advice or deliberately ignore it must expect to be dealt with accordingly.

Contrary to what R Millbourn believes, driving related offences are serious.

Last year there were seven murders in Wiltshire and 43 people killed in road traffic collisions.

There is overwhelming evidence from around the country that safety cameras save lives.

S Khan

Communications Officer

Safety Camera Unit