The move to civilian staff will pay for a third van

The vans, which contain laser cameras to identify speeding motorists, can capture a picture of the car and the driver, and the car's registration.

The move will cut costs and help pay for an extra van to take to the roads.

Kevin Tea from Cumbria Safety Cameras said he hopes it will help to reduce further the number of road deaths.

'Speed awareness'

The move from police officers to civilian staff is part of measures to reduce costs.

Mr Tea said: "It's all down to money. The police officers who manned the vans before worked on their days off so were not taking any resources away from other law enforcement, but there was a money factor associated with that.

"By going on with civilian operators we can cut our operating costs by �160,000 a year.

"The civilians have been trained up to the same levels of skills as the police officers and they have been on speed awareness courses, and it is down to their discretion when they pull the trigger."

He said the extra money will pay for another van to work alongside the two vans currently operating in the county, hopefully improving road safety.

Mr Tea said: "With two vans we managed to cut the number of people killed and seriously injured by 40% at the 47 hot spots that we monitor. By having an extra van out we hope to bring that figure down further."