According to a survey by the Institute of Advanced Motorists (IAM), 82 per cent of people now think it is acceptable for authorities to use speed cameras.

However 45 per cent think that raising income is still a main reason for their use, according to the results of the IAM’s annual speed camera survey. Interestingly, the more prevalent speed cameras are in a given region, the less popular they are with local people.

The RAC Foundation has warned that the widespread belief that speed cameras have been switched off is not quite true. There are still 487 fixed cameras taking photographs out of a total of 2331 fixed camera sites. For those who are not fans of speed cameras, the main news is that there is not much money around to replace the old cameras as they get to the end of their lives. The RAC Foundation quotes an estimate of £20,000 to replace each camera with a digital one.