60,000 caught by speed cameras (From Daily Echo)

60,000 caught by speed cameras

9:00am Thursday 6th December 2007 in

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ALMOST 60,000 motorists were fined for speeding in Hampshire in just 12 months, the Daily Echo can reveal.

Government figures show 58,750 drivers were caught across the county in 2005 - an average of 161 a day.

At £60 per fixed penalty notice that means speeding drivers in Hampshire had to pay more than £3.5m.

That is more than double the number fined in 1997.

Critics blamed the increasing number of fines on the explosion of speed cameras in the county.

But the man charged with keeping Hampshire's roads safe says cameras are justified because they have cut the number of injuries.

Julian Hewitt, of the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Safer Roads Partnership, said: "What we look at is casualties. The number has fallen steadily at our camera sites. That's what people should concentrate on because that is what we are about - reducing casualties, not giving out tickets."

For the full story see today's Daily Echo