A SPECIALIST in road traffic law has called on the government to give more discretion to courts following the revelation that more than a million motorists are within one offence of losing their licences.

David Williams of Ellis Jones Solicitors spoke out after a survey revealed the shocking number of drivers who are within three points of disqualification.

Ninety-two per cent of all speeding offences are accounted for by speed cameras.

Car insurance company Direct Line says as many as 16 per cent of motorists currently have points on their licences for speeding. Of those, 21 per cent are on the brink of losing their licences, a four per cent increase, or 215,000 more motorists, than last year.

The company found that with the proliferation of speed cameras, drivers have paid out more than £300 million in speeding fines over the last three years. Nearly half of speeding convictions were for exceeding the limit by less than 10mph.

Fourteen per cent of drivers say they would lose their job if their licence was revoked, rising to one in five among male motorists.

Mr Williams said: "Every single journey that every single motorist makes puts them in danger of exceeding the speed limit because of the proliferation of cameras, particularly in Dorset."

Mr Williams recently represented one client who notched up 12 penalty points for speeding on a single journey to and from Hertfordshire. "Three of the offences were committed in a matter of minutes. The magistrates were persuaded that two were so close together that there was one," he said.

"Someone who has committed four offences over three years could lose their job because their licence has been taken away. The road traffic legislation needs to be looked at again because some of the penalties are too harsh.

"There should be more discretion given to magistrates, not only in terms of the level of fine they impose. In a deserving case with more mitigation, they could endorse licences with fewer than three points."

Both Dorset Police and Dorset Safety Camera Partnership declined to comment on the survey.