Speed cameras, the bane of every driver's life d the subject of plenty of urban myth, are saving 100 lives every year, according to a government study published in June. But although the findings of the three-year study of accident rates on roads with cameras show an overall 40% cut in the number of people killed and seriously injured, the fact remains that at some locations fatalities are actually rising. And stories still abound of drivers caught three times in a single day banned before they realise and of fines filling the government's coffers as a sort of stealth tax. But how much is myth and how much are the cameras affecting everyday life? The statistics are frightening. Back in 1999, the government said speed cameras were used to provide evidence in 49% of cases involving motorists' speeding - about 551,000. By 2002, the figures had risen to 1.5m cases involving the cameras - and' of those 94% were caught for speeding and about 6% for travelling through red traffic lights.
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