Motorists see speed cameras as a way of raising money

Almost half of male motorists questioned said they would not be embarrassed to have points for speeding on their driving licences.

While three in four would not condone such vandalism of speed cameras, fewer than a quarter of drivers would be "very likely" to report to police someone defacing a speed camera, the poll for the RAC Foundation and Autocar magazine found.

Radio' 5 Live's Mark Jones told listeners to Breakfast: "It seems to suggest that these days we are totally desensitised to this whole question of getting points on our licence.

"All we do is just cough up our �60 and carry on driving and there's no shame involved in it which is one of those things which used to control our speed."

There were 1.3 million speeding offences in 2001, up from 690,000 in 1995. One in six drivers had points on their licence for speeding.

Clocking up points

The survey also showed motorists saw speed cameras as a way of raising money, he said.

The camera should be one weapon in the police armoury rather than the entire arsenal Edmund King, Executive director of the RAC Foundation

"They see it as a daily annoyance, they don't see it as a form of law enforcement and because of that, when they see someone potentially damaging a camera, they don't do anything about it."

Based on responses from 1,000 British drivers, the survey suggested 56% would support speeding drivers being made to take specific courses rather than clocking up points and fines.

Only five forces, Lancashire, Staffordshire, Northamptonshire, Lincolnshire and Thames Valley, offer the courses.

Lancashire, which pioneered the education programme, allows only those drivers caught doing up to 35mph in a 30mph zone to escape three points by paying �85 to attend a course.

Last year, 8,690 drivers completed the educational programme.

Dangers of speeding

Staffordshire accepts drivers doing up to 39mph on to its course.

A study by Staffordshire University found drivers who had attended a course reduced their speed by up to five miles per hour. By contrast, simply sending a penalty notice to drivers had little impact on their speed.

The study concluded: "The reduction in speed in the three months after attending the course was significant. Merely being caught speeding did not affect high street driving speed.

"It was the attendance at the course that brought about the speed reduction."

The researchers also suggested drivers were slowing down not because they were more aware of the risk of being caught, but because they had a greater understanding of the dangers of speeding.

The speeding survey 16% of motorists have points on their licence for speeding 19% of men and 12% of women have points for speeding 18% of drivers claim to know someone in their immediate family who has points for speeding Almost half (47%) of all male drivers would not be embarrassed about admitting to having points on their licences for speeding, as opposed to 28% of females.

Edmund King, executive director of the RAC Foundation, said: "There is a role for camera enforcement at traffic lights and accident blackspots but we should certainly not rejoice at a million-plus prosecutions.

"The camera should be one weapon in the police armoury rather than the entire arsenal."

He said there had been a correlation between the increase in speed cameras and the decrease in traffic police.

"Rather than sending out millions of fixed penalty notices we would like to see motorists being given a choice to re-train.

"Surely the objective of cameras should be to educate people to become safer drivers rather than fine them and get them off the road?" he added.