Earlier this week a senior police officer admitted that the public’s perception of the use of mobile speeding cameras on our motorways is that the exercise is more about raising money than saving lives. He went on to say that many motorway convictions are in areas with no history of traffic accidents but so large is the volume of traffic that the use of speed cameras is akin to “shooting fish in a barrel”.

Well, tell us something we didn’t know. Most motorists are sick and tired of being an easy target for police forces keen to boost their crime detection figures but it is refreshing to hear the police come clean for a change.

Speeding can rarely be condoned but the use of speed cameras has surely to be proportionate and relevant. For example, if speed cameras are about saving lives wouldn’t it be better to place more of them outside schools, shopping centres and busy residential areas where there is more chance of a serious accident taking place?

Unfortunately, that’s not the point; the policeman on the motorway bridge is going to generate far more money than the one outside the local primary school and as with most things in life, money talks.