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Bosses defend Blackpool speed camera haul
ROAD safety chiefs have defended their huge haul from speed cameras after fines across Lancashire more than trebled in just a decade.
Speed cameras in the county secured 3,741,780 in fines through 2006 – up from just 952,520 for 1997.
Nationally, revenue from speeding tickets has almost quadrupled to more than 200m over the same period of time.
Drivers' groups say the growth of speed cameras has taken police off the roads and does nothing to tackle other kinds of dangerous driving.
But chiefs at the Lancashire Road Safety Partnership, which enforces speed limits in the county on behalf of police, the courts and councils, say the cash goes directly to the Treasury – with cash then returned to local councils as road safety grants.
Families
Kat Whitemoss, from Lancashire Road Safety Partnership, said: "The money we raise from fines goes back to the Government. We then receive a grant which we can put back into road safety.
"It will be used for projects such as initiatives to work with young drivers, education, information and publicity, so it will not just be ploughed back into speed cameras.
"Perhaps there has been an increase in fines because there are now more cars on the roads – families these days typically tend to have two or three cars.
"Perhaps more people are speeding. If people kept to the speed limit, they wouldn't be fined."
But Hugh Bladon, spokesman for the Association of British Drivers, said: "This is not the right way to go about trying to make our roads safer.
"Putting up a lot of cameras and photographing people for misdemeanours is not the right way to go forward.
"We have taken policemen off the street and replaced them with speed cameras.
"It's absurd. Cameras just show a figure and do not show whether someone is on drugs or has been drinking or is tail-gating and other unsafe driving.
"We need to be tackling the way people drive, as opposed to how fast they drive."
Last month The Gazette reported on a temporary speed camera on the A583 at Lea, near Kirkham, which was revealed as being one of the highest earners in the country. It raised around 381,000 and added 19,000 points to driving licences.
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Weather for Blackpool
Sunday 12 February 2012
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