As councils across the country struggle to find funds for their road safety programmes, the AA warns that scrapping speed cameras will put more lives at risk as motorists increase their speeds. According to research conducted by Thames Valley Safer Roads Partnership, the number of drivers speeding past cameras has increased by 88 per cent since they were deactivated.

Residents in Oxfordshire have been voicing their concerns over a county-wide switch off of speed cameras because the council removed £600,000 worth of funding. Although the government is attempting to show that it intends to stop the so called war on motorists, some are concerned that this is happening at the expense of road safety.

President of the AA, Edmund King, said he realised that speed cameras were unpopular with many drivers but stood by them in principle saying that when they were put up in the right place they helped to reduce drivers’ speeds in an acceptable way to most motorists.

The government has stripped £38 million out of its road safety budget as it desperately tries to tackle the country’s financial deficit. This means that most councils have also had to cut back on road safety. The AA fears that the harsh financial realities could see a rise in accidents as road safety is neglected.

Since 1992 when speed cameras first started to appear on the roads around 6,000 devices have been deployed. The Department for Transport said even though many cameras were disappearing, road safety was still a number one priority for the government.