SPEED cameras have led to a dramatic drop in the number of accidents on Hamp-shire roads - while raking in £2.5m in fines from motorists.

The annual report by the Safety Camera Partnership for Hampshire and the Isle of Wight showed that accidents on roads around the county plummeted by more than 60 per cent after the introduction of fixed cameras and mobile units.

Across Hampshire the number of accidents in which people were killed or seriously injured fell from 95 to 37, while in Southampton the figure dropped from 13 to eight.

Casualties who suffered less serious injuries in accidents also fell from 492 to 306 in Hampshire and from 96 to 80 in Southampton.

All the figures were calculated by taking an average of the number of accidents that happened in three years prior to the cameras being installed, in April 2003, and comparing it to the number of accidents during the year from when the cameras were installed until March 2004.

The news has been welcomed by police and road safety bosses.

Partnership Project Manager Dr Marion Sinclair said: "Camera enforcement is working and will remain a vital aspect of road safety policy exactly because it is proving itself an effective means of reducing accidents.

"We continue to take great care in making sure that we locate cameras where they have the greatest potential to reduce casualties."

Hampshire police's Chief Constable Paul Kernaghan said the results were an achievement the community could be proud of.

The report also revealed how much money was reaped from fining motorists. During the year 54,515 fixed penalty notices were issued of which 41,587 were paid, totalling £2,495,220 in fines, 30 per cent more than the previous year's figure of £1,919,400.

AA Motoring Trust spokesman Andrew Howard praised the report for its transparency.

He said: "The results show a very dramatic decrease and while that is encouraging we wouldn't expect that sort of reduction to continue.

"We find that once the cameras are in place people get used to them, so in that respect they have done their job."

But the figures have been dismissed by campaigners against the use of cameras as "meaningless".

Association of British Drivers co-ordinator John Evans said: "If true it's an impressive figure. Unfor-tunately, because this figure is not calculated using like for like, year to year comparisons, the figure is meaningless. In order to fully assess the effectiveness of speed cameras the public need to know a lot more information.

"One of the main concerns is that the money generated from speed cameras never gets ploughed back into road safety like improving highways."

Partnership spokesman Julian Hewitt hit back at the criticism saying it was not a money making organisation but made enough to cover the operational costs (£2,086,400), with the rest (£408,820) being claimed by the Treasury.

"We are judged on how effective we are at reducing the number of accidents on our roads, not how much money we make.

"We are not allowed to make money. We have to identify the routes where we stand the best chance of making a difference. These results show they have."