And in Lancashire, drivers arguably have more scope to complain than most.

There are currently 293 fixed speed traps in the county and another 69 regular mobile sites where speeding drivers can be snapped by manned devices.

Last week the Evening Post revealed the Lancashire Partnership for Road Safety was looking into buying a new digital system, which would equip the county with a crystal clear DVD system to snare speeders.

That would make it easier to identify who is driving and whether they are eating, drinking, talking on their mobile or reading a magazine behind the wheel.

On top of that plans are in place to introduce another 81 sites of community concern, where mobile speed cameras could be put to use.

And while the number of speed cameras in the county has increased steadily over the years, the number of traffic officers has decreased.

According to figures as at March 2006, there are 197 traffic officers in Lancashire compared to 273 in 1995.

In addition, latest figures show the number of speeding fines issued in Lancashire has increased by 167% in a decade.

More than 23,800 speeding tickets were handed out in 1997 compared to 63,500 – worth £3.8m – in 2005, the most recent figures available.

Against such a backdrop, it is not difficult to see why many motorists see cash as the main driver behind the speed camera programme.

But road safety bosses maintain speed cameras have nothing to do with income and everything to do with saving lives.

The Lancashire Partnership for Road Safety's project manager John Davies explains: "The cameras are casualty reduction schemes. They are there to reduce road casualties and the evidence is there to support this.

"With camera sites we are looking at a 40% reduction in accidents, which is a very good reduction.

"One of the things we have always stressed within the partnership is cameras are just one element of road safety, there are numerous other things we can do.

"We can install traffic calming measures, there's education, there's training."

The main mobile sites are in place to reduce casualties, Mr Davies adds, while sites of community concern are primarily there to reduce speed – "providing a community service" in areas where residents have called for cameras.

A compelling argument maybe, but speed cameras remain shrouded in controversy for many motorists.

The number of road accidents in Lancashire has fluctuated over the past five years but there has been no dramatic fall in the accident rate overall.

Paul Biggs, of the Association of British Drivers (ABD), argues speed cameras are simply a "blunt instrument" which do not get to the bottom of the bad driving which causes many accidents.

"There are plenty of speed camera sites which show an increase in accidents," he says.

"The problem is the number of traffic police has been knocked down. All a speed camera can do is photograph a vehicle travelling over a set distance, but they can't spot drink drivers and the number of deaths caused by drink drivers has gone up quite a lot.

"More traffic officers would be a very big help if we could get them back on the road to look for bad driving.

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