THE number of motorists caught by speed cameras has fallen by almost a third in Essex.

Figures just released by the Home Office show 62,006 fines were issued by cameras in the county in 2006.

This number fell sharply to 42,989 the following year, a drop of 19,017 or 31 per cent.

Until April 2007, police and local authorities were allowed to keep a proportion of the money taken from fines, which could be used to pay for more cameras.

The Government then changed the legislation, meaning police forces now get a fixed amount to pay for all aspects of road safety.

Edmund King, president of the AA, said that the reduction in fines could be because forces could no longer claim the cost of installing and operating cameras, and so were putting less resources into enforcement.

He said: “The more tickets they issued, the more staff they could employ and the more cameras they could install.

“Under the previous regime, depending on the number of tickets the speed cameras generated, the police and the safety camera partnerships could keep a proportion. Obviously when that changed there was less of an incentive to put up more cameras.” Nishan Wijeratne, from Essex Police, said the aim of the cameras was simply to cut down on accidents.

He added: “Speeding still remains one of the fundamental reasons behind a large number of road crashes. We still focus our efforts on educating motorists, motorcyclists, cyclists and pedestrians about road safety.”