Speed cameras have a mixed record in driving down accidents on England’s roads, official figures suggest.
Statistics released by the Department for Transport on Wednesday showed a number of black spots where injuries and deaths increased in the years after a camera was installed, while in others the figures dropped.
On the A1134 Newmarket Road in Cambridgeshire, for example, there were 124 injuries between 2002 and 2010, but only 109 during the previous nine years.
But the number of deaths caused by crashes at the site fell from 16 to seven.
And on a road in Poole, Dorset, there were 14 accidents in 2009 when a camera was in operation compared to nine in 2001 when it was not.
The government has ended ring-fenced central funding of speed cameras and has cut the money available to local Road Safety Partnerships which operate the cameras as part of their deficit reduction plan.
This has led some local authorities including Oxfordshire County Council to switch off all its cameras in order to save money.
Road safety minister Mike Penning said: "Local residents have a right to expect that when their council spends money on speed cameras, they publish information to show whether those cameras are helping to reduce accidents or not.
"I hope that this information will help local people to make informed judgments about the impact cameras are having on their local roads."
Road safety campaigners Brake said studies showed fixed speed cameras are “exceptionally effective” in reducing speeds, crashes and casualties, preventing families going through the unnecessary trauma and pain of a road death or injury.
Julie Townsend, Brake campaigns director, said: “These studies have also demonstrated that speed cameras pay for themselves several times over by preventing costly casualties. They are therefore a proven way to improve safety without costing the taxpayer.
"The information released today is incomplete and has not been academically analysed to produce an overall picture. Without this work, it's impossible to make general statements on speed camera effectiveness using this data.”
She added: "Given the extensive evidence we already have on speed camera effectiveness, and on the relationship between speed and crashes, the government's focus should be on persuading drivers of the importance of staying within the law and making roads safer by slowing down."
While 75 authorities have released the information so far, 72 authorities have yet to do so.
And the TaxPayers Alliance, which recently produced a report that concluded cameras have done little to reduce road casualties, said motorists often felt cameras served no purpose other than to raise money.
Emma Boon, Campaign Director of the TaxPayers’ Alliance said: “It’s unacceptable that so many councils have refused to publish full data on speed cameras. If they reduce accidents and save lives there should be no problem with letting drivers and taxpayers see this information.
"Motorists might suspect that they are being treated like cash cows and that speed cameras are simply a source of revenue. People are sick of being fined under guise of road safety.”