Kent is 15th in the country for producing the most money from roadside speed cameras.
The county’s cameras have flashed 17,799 motorists in the past 12 months. That equates to £1,067,940 in fines - and 53,397 points.
The figures were revealed in a national survey of all the safety camera partnerships that oversee the controversial devices.
The busiest cameras were in Wiltshire, which issued more than 42,000 penalties.
Bromley-based Roger Lawson, spokesman for the Association of British Drivers, bitterly attacked the use and proliferation of speed cameras.
He said: “There are better ways to improve road safety. The Government claims they cut down on accidents, which is simply not true. The figures have held steady for years.”
But Katherine Barrett, spokeswoman for the Kent and Medway Safety Camera Partnership, defended the use of the devices. She said they were cutting the number of people killed or seriously injured on the county’s roads.
She said: “Kent and Medway’s safety cameras generated fewer Fixed Penalty Notices compared with the majority of the rest of the country and we would therefore like to congratulate the people of Kent who are clearly adhering to the speed limits more than people living in other counties.
“The number of people killed or seriously injured at safety camera sites across Kent and Medway has been reduced by 58.3 per cent since the partnership launched in July 2002.
“The number of overall casualties – including slight injuries - is also down by 35.5 per cent, which amounts to 394 fewer injuries a year. This means more than one person each day in Kent and Medway is being saved from injury by safety cameras alone.”
POSTED: 06/10/2007 01:30:00
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