Number of speed fines handed out is on the up.

The number of drivers caught speeding in the county has shot up in the past 12 months.

The latest speed camera fine statistics show the number of drivers caught speeding in Lincolnshire has risen to 22,621.

The statistics released to the Echo span the past 12 months and show the number of drivers being handed a speeding fine has increased for the first time since 2005.

These figures amount to a massive £1,357,260 in revenue generated from speeding fines in Lincolnshire alone.

This is up from 2008, when 20,179 fines were administered on the basis of speed camera information – generating more than £1.2 million.

The statistics were released by the Central Ticket Office, which processes all speeding offences within Lincolnshire.

Bosses at the Lincolnshire Road Safety Partnership say the rise in the number of people receiving fines was not due to a change in strategy, policing or implementation of speed cameras.

Partnership project manager Steve Batchelor said: “We can control the level of enforcement, and the way we warn drivers with appropriate signage, but ultimately, we can’t alter the way people drive.

“The level of traffic enforcement has remained consistent for several years, and we’ve made a big impact on making drivers more aware when approaching speed cameras and traffic-policing areas.”

All of the money generated from speed cameras goes directly to the Treasury – and not the police, councils or courts in the counties which run them.

Traffic chiefs say an annual grant for Lincolnshire was fixed by the Government in 2007, which remains unaffected by the increase or decrease in fines issued.

This grant is a fixed total until 2011.

The money allocated to the county is used mainly for maintenance and operation of speed cameras.

Any extra revenue is then filtered into funding for wider road safety issues.

But in the wake of the findings, Lincolnshire co-ordinator for the Association of British Drivers Keith Peat said the speed camera statistics were unjustified.

“The figures themselves don’t really convey much,” he said.

“The simple fact of the matter is they’re all irrelevant. No camera can actually see what causes accidents.

“They aren’t really anything more than glorified speedometers. It’s drunk and careless drivers who cause the accidents, but they can slip passed the speed cameras without being detected.

“All these figures tell me is that there are 22,000 drivers who have been caught speeding, but who haven’t caused a crash or accident.”