Drivers' pockets hit as Gatsos earn £36k each

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<div class="rxbodyfield" xmlns:o="urn:www.microsoft.com/office" xmlns:st1="urn:www.microsoft.com/smarttags" xmlns:st2="urn:www.microsoft.com/smarttags2" xmlns:w="urn:www.microsoft.com/word" xmlns:x="urn:www.microsoft.com/excel"><p>The average Gatso speed camera earns over &#163;36,000 each year, according to a report in the Daily Mirror, meaning that the company can pay off the cost of installing the yellow menaces in under a year.</p><p>Each camera costs &#163;30,000 to install and with the boxes catching 600 speeding drivers each year and fining drivers &#163;60 for each offence, each camera starts to make a profit in less than 12 months.</p><p>The report also reveals that Gatsos, which were ironically first designed to check that a rally driver named Gatso was achieving speeds high enough to win a race, are more likely to flash motorists than temporary cameras due to their targeted positioning and the fact that their film is changed more often.</p><p>Britain currently has 6,000 speed cameras in operation and last year a motorist was caught speeding every 15 seconds, leading to an annual fine total of &#163;114 million.</p><p>Despite this, critics of the cameras claim that they are simply a cash-cow for the government and point to statistics which show that accident numbers in areas surrounded by cameras have not decreased.</p><p>Sussex Safety Camera Partnership announced that it had made a 20% rise in speeding fines last year, but official figures showed that the number of yearly road deaths and serious injuries has increased from 889 to 987.</p><p>Norman Baker, Lib Dem MP for Lewes, told local paper the Argus that there was a danger of authorities becoming over-reliant on cameras.</p><p>He added: &quot;Speed cameras have a role in particular accident blackspots but because drivers know where they are and slow down then speed up, this can cause more erratic driving and can cause more accidents.&quot;</p><p>uSwitch.com has plenty of information on <a href="http://www.uswitch.com/Car-Insurance/Car-Insurance-In-The-UK.html">car insurance in the UK and can also help you find the right deal. Use our <a href="http://www.uswitch.com/Car- Insurance/Index.aspx">car insurance calculator to find yourself a great deal and apply online today.</p></div>