HAVING watched the recent 'Dispatches' TV programme investigating the effectiveness of speed cameras, I was dismayed to read your article (LET, July 11) concerning the plans for increased revenue from fines advocated by the Lancashire Partnership for Road Safety.

Although 'Dispatches' endeavoured to give cameras a fair hearing, the conclusion was decisive in that they made no overall contribution to road safety apart from at specific blackspots.

There is, in fact, an arguable case that the increased use of cameras is actually also increasing the number of injuries and deaths, as the last 12 months saw an increase of some two per cent nationally and an increase of 30 per cent in one of the camera-saturation trial areas of Essex.

While the increase in road usage was used as an explanation for this, it needs to be balanced against the technological improvements in modern vehicle stopping distances and the fact that ABS is becoming standard in more new vehicles.

I believe the reason for this increase is down to the fact that a safe driver is one who is driving with an awareness of all of the factors involved in driving (other motorists, pedestrians, road conditions etc) and the need to constantly monitor your speedometer decreases this awareness to the point of danger to both yourself and other road users.

In any event, the national figures and particularly those in the trial areas, are conclusive in their damnation of this policy.

The programme also highlighted the fact that between 20 and 60 per cent of all fines goes to central government and is not used on road safety measures, which, in anybody's language, is simply taxation.

Cameras can only decrease speeds if drivers are aware of their presence and cameras without correct signage or those deliberately placed to entrap drivers make no contribution to road safety and are a terrible indictment of bodies such as the Lancashire Partnership for Road Safety, who espouse the diktat that cameras are used to make our roads safer.

One final point is that in British Columbia, Canada, the local government elections were decided by the electorate voting for a party which campaigned for the removal of speed cameras and their removal made no difference whatsoever to the accident rate.

STEPHEN SADLER, Valley Drive, Padiham.