A SINGLE Poole speed camera is on course to rake in almost as much money as all of Dorset’s other cameras put together.

The latest report into speeding fines by the Taxpayers’ Alliance reveals the total amount of fixed penalties from speeding and red light offences detected by Dorset Speed Camera Partnership in 2008/09 was £1,591,920.

At the current rate, the Holes Bay speed on green, or greed on green, as it has been dubbed, could rake in just short of £1.3m a year.

Taxpayers’ Alliance chief executive Matthew Elliot said: “Motorists have long suspected that speed cameras are more about raising money than keeping the roads safe.

“These findings show that the state has been squeezing a fortune out of people using these cameras.”

The Taxpayers’ Alliance report, which collates monies generated from all UK speed cameras and magistrates courts, reveals a staggering £87,368, 227 was collected nationwide for offences in 2008/09.

Of this total, £65,748, 850 came from fixed penalties detected by cameras in England and Wales.

Meanwhile, the report found that declines in casualty rates had fallen woefully short of projected figures since the introduction of speed cameras.

However, casualty rates across the UK have fallen consistently since 1997.

Drivers Alliance chief executive Peter Roberts said: “Close statistical analysis of road casualties shows that, since speed cameras have been the main driver of road safety policy, the road casualty rate has not gone down at the trajectory expected.

“It is time to rethink road safety policy so that it has broadened focus, not solely based on speed.”

Dorset Speed Camera Partnership operates 37 fixed speed cameras, six red light cameras – including speed on green – and six mobile sites.