Speeding motorists have boosted Lancashire Police funds by almost £1m.
The money comes from fees paid by offending drivers who opt to take speed awareness courses rather than pay a fixed penalty.
In 2011/12 these payments amounted to £0.979m, more than half of which will contribute towards the operating costs of the fixed penalty office.
A report due to go before a Lancashire Police Authority meeting on Wednesday said that £506,000 was earmarked for these ongoing costs.
Although the office staff are employed by the Police Authority, their costs are split, with Lancashire County Council and the Courts Service also making contributions.
In addition to this, a further £284,000 will be put aside to create a reserve to fund redundancy payments for fixed penalty office staff, in the “unlikely event” this should happen.
This will bring the total in the redundancy pot, which already holds a contribution from last year’s road safety reserves, to £350,000. The remaining funds from the speed awareness course - £189,00 - will be placed in the road safety reserve and may, ultimately, also be put towards redundancy if there is a shortfall.
The report said that any accumulated surpluses from this and previous years, would be spent on road safety activities. Speeding was one of the areas pinpointed when the Government set targets for reducing casualties in road accidents in 2001.
But the Police Authority report said: “Ten years on and the 2010 targets have been met and exceeded but the level of killed and serous injuries on Lancashire’s road is still too high.”
A police spokesman said: “Lancashire Constabulary’s course provider is Lancashire County Council but motorists can choose to book courses anywhere in the country and these are a mixture of local authority and private businesses.”
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