Speed camera fines more than £15m

Drivers in the West Midlands have paid out more than £15million in fines after being caught on speed cameras over three years.

Figures released today show millions of pounds were paid between 2007 and 2009. This was from fixed penalties from speed and traffic light cameras and fines handed out in magistrates' courts in the years 2007 and 2008.

But critics argue road casualty rates had actually declined at a slower rate since the cameras were introduced in the early 1990s, proving they were more about raising money than saving lives.

West Midlands Police swelled its coffers by £2.4million in 2008 and £2million in 2009. Staffordshire Police raised £1.2million and £1million, while West Mercia Police was one of the top 10 authorities in the country for collecting fines, raking in £2.6million in 2007 and £2.8million in 2009.

Magistrates courts in Staffordshire and the West Midlands each raised £1million in 2007 and 2008, while West Mercia courts fined a further £846,000.

Fixed penalty notices as a result of speed cameras across England and Wales raised £65million a year for police forces, according to the figures released under a Freedom of Information request.

Campaign groups Taxpayers' Alliance and Drivers' Alliance today estimated that 1.5million more road casualties occurred between 1991 and 2007 than would have if the 1978 to 1990 trend had continued.

Matthew Elliott, chief executive of the Taxpayers' Alliance, said: "Motorists have long suspected that speed cameras are more about raising money than keeping the roads safe.

"These findings show that the state has been squeezing a fortune out of people using cameras, but, if anything, the rate of reduction in casualty numbers has slowed.

"The whole country should follow the example of Swindon, which has scrapped cameras altogether."