ACCORDING to police, people who complain about speeding drivers through their own town or village are often the ones who are themselves responsible for speeding.

One culprit, caught on camera in a north Wiltshire village recently, was a mother taking her child to nursery. Driving out of her village, she was already above the 30mph speed limit. Eight minutes later she was caught speeding by the same camera as she returned. As a result, she was issued with two fixed penalty tickets totalling £120.

The offence was recorded by Wiltshire Safety Camera Unit, which uses mobile cameras on the road in high visibility vehicles.

David Frampton, manager of the Safety Camera Unit, said: "The lady said she hadn't seen the speed enforcement vehicle but admitted she was in a hurry."

The Safety Camera Unit has three mobile cameras, used at more than 80 sites all over the county. The locations where the cameras are operating are publicised each week on the unit's website.

In addition, there are 13 fixed cameras in Wiltshire and their locations are also on the website. Mr Frampton said: "We do not do covert operations. The vehicles we use have Safety Camera Unit written in large writing on the side along with the camera logo. There is a big yellow panel with the Camera Safety Partnership logo on and there are large hatched markings on the back."

Mr Frampton stressed that the unit does not want to catch speeding drivers; the aim of the project is to cut speeds and in doing so, cut the number of accidents on the roads.

However, some people will go to extraordinary lengths to avoid being detected.

One motorist, according to Mr Frampton, whose work meant that he clocked up high mileage, spent £400 on a speed camera detector and was infuriated to be stopped by the police manning a mobile camera to be told he had been caught speeding.

Mr Frampton said: "He had invested a considerable amount of money in the equipment to avoid being caught speeding but by the time it had alerted him it was too late the mobile camera had recorded his excessive speed. It's fair to say he was very annoyed."

The Government changed the rules last year so that money paid in fines goes back to the Wiltshire Safety Camera Unit.

A speeding driver is given a fixed penalty notice of £60 and three penalty points on their driving licence.

If drivers break the speed limit excessively or they contest the fine, they will go to court and any fines imposed there go back to the Government.

Since last September, more than 10,300 drivers have been caught by the three mobile cameras in the county.

The amount raised through fixed penalty tickets is £320,330.

The unit has a budget of £1.1m which it expects to recoup in fines.

Last year more than 3,500 people were killed or injured on Wiltshire's roads and the aim is to reduce collisions in Wiltshire by 40 per cent by 2010.

The mobile cameras alone are recording 100 speeding drivers a day and Mr Frampton is urging people to slow down and not get caught. "Being fined for speeding is one of the taxes people can avoid," he said. "I would love to see more people getting wise to these cameras and keeping their speed down."

The unit's website is at www.safetycameras-wiltshire-swindon.co.uk

jcrooks@newswilts.co.uk

Dreaded speed cameras do help save lives

The sites chosen for the use of mobile speed cameras must have had at least four injury collisions in the previous three years. Of those collisions two must have been serious or fatal and speed must have been a contributory factor in causing at least a third of the collisions at the site.

New locations where the mobile speed cameras could be used include the A419 near Cricklade, Swindon, and the A338 at Downton.

After targeting the A36 over a period of a few months, police report there has been a noticeable reduction in speed levels.

Department of Transport studies have shown that for every one mph reduction in speed, there is a five per cent reduction in the number of collisions.

Cameras have caught drivers speeding in poor weather conditions. One was recorded driving at more than 100mph in fog on the A4 at Klondike near Marlborough.