Sir – I was vilified by Lord Prescott in the PCC Campaign for exposing the speed camera scams.

I quote the government’s analysis, the 2005 national analysis, now picked up by the national press, the first, which showed speeding to be a contributory factor in 12 per cent, seven per cent, four per cent and five per cent of fatal, serious, slight and all accidents respectively.

The corresponding figures for 2011, many millions of fines and penalty points and thousands of lost licences later, were 14 per cent, seven per cent, five per cent and five per cent.

Not success – expensive failure, and that does not allow for the benefits that could have been achieved by spending £2bn on effective methods or the many accidents directly caused by cameras.

Importantly too, these numbers include “possible” as well as “very likely” involvement as anything from the primary cause to the least significant of the six factors reports allow. Derbyshire Police’s assessment of primary contributory factors in 2009/10 showed only 59 out of 2,220 (2.7 per cent) of all injury accidents primarily due to speeds above limits, ninth in importance and well below many other factors.

We ignore the misuse of resources at our peril as young driver deaths continue at appalling levels.

Godfrey Bloom, UKIP MEP for Yorkshire and North Lincolnshire