Safe Speed say drivers are distracted by the cameras

'Safe Speed' says the county has seen an increase in fatalities at the same time as being one of the top four in the country to hand out speeding fines.

The organisation claims Lancashire, Essex, Thames Valley, and Derbyshire have all shown a collective increase in road deaths between 2002 and 2003.

Derbyshire police say the findings do not show the true picture.

I am not aware of any accidents being caused by drivers concentrating on the speed cameras rather than the road ahead Insp Alan Bannister, Derbyshire Road Policing

Paul Smith from Safe Speed said: "Between them these counties issued almost 600,000 speeding tickets last year.

"And collectively they saw over a 12% rise in fatalities, is this a coincidence?"

He added: "We do think cameras are bad for road safety....they have side effects like making drivers look at the speedometer more - and less at where they are going."

Insp Alan Bannister of Derbyshire Road Policing Support rejected the idea, pointing to the fact road fatalities had been reduced in the county.

He said: "We have seen, year on year, the figures for people being killed or injured on Derbyshire's roads have reduced and we are well on track to achieve government targets by 2010."