That was the damning verdict of the city's council chief Ken Hudson who believes 20mph and speed indicator devices (SIDs) are better value than cash-hungry Gatsos.

Last year Lancashire's speed cameras snared £3.4m from drivers. The cash goes straight to the Government.

Partnership bosses say other safety measures are not part of their remit.

But Coun Hudson said: "To be perfectly honest, you see speed cameras, everyone knows where they are and people know to slow down.

"You would get the same response using SIDs, you would slow the traffic down and you don't get the rage you get from reasonably law-abiding motorists.

"Clearly speed kills and we don't want to encourage that but we want some measures that slow people down without hitting them with a £60 fine. We would like to see more of the money going to 20mph zones, it should be spent in residential areas."

A number of SID devices – which tell drivers how fast they are going and cost around £4,000 – are already on Lancashire's roads and have been paid for by district councils, parish councils or groups of residents.

County Hall has funded traffic calming schemes, while Preston Council has used grant money to buy 20mph signs in some areas.

Coun Hudson's comments come in the wake of Tory-controlled Swindon Council's decision to stop pumping cash into their road safety partnership and spend it on road safety measures instead.

Lancashire currently has 345 fixed speed cameras — the third highest number in the country.

Five years ago there were 63.

Kat Whitemoss, of the Lancashire Partnership for Road Safety, said there are no plans to abandon speed cameras in Lancashire.

She added: "Of the money we get back a proportion of it is spent on education and different publicity, it does not all go into speed cameras."

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