THE anti-speeding campaign introduced into Thames Valley a year ago is likely to have cost motorists an extra £2.2 million in fines.

But it may also have led to a sizeable drop in the numbers of people killed or badly injured in accidents caused by speed, according to a report to the police authority from chief constable Sir Charles Pollard.

In the first nine months of the project, the number fell from 301 to 275, or by 8.6 per cent.

Sir Charles says the period is a bit short to be statistically significant, but the figure is very encouraging.

Thames Valley was one of eight force areas in the country chosen for a Home Office pilot project.

The scheme gives some of the £40 fixed penalties paid by motorists caught on camera back to the locality.

In the past all the cash went to the Treasury, something Sir Charles and Buckinghamshire County Council complained about for years.

Between them they paid for the cameras, the camera housings and the staff involved, and they thought they should get the fixed penalty money back to help meet the costs and to improve the system.

They argued that the police didn't have enough staff to change the film in the cameras regularly and couldn't afford extra cameras anyway.

Since last April, three extra cameras have been installed and next year the money will pay for ten additional traffic officers, a high profile presence to reinforce the message and to give speeders roadside pep talks.

The amount of money coming back to Thames Valley is based on the amount of fines levied in 1999/2000.

Any extra comes back and is shared between the county council and the police.

By the end of March about 84,000 fixed penalty fines should have been paid, compared with the baseline figure for 1999/2000, of 31,786.