THE news about speed traps will cheer the hearts of the pro-surveillance camera brigade - and of course the news that a motorist was fined for giving a two fingered salute to a camera proves they are indeed surveillance cameras and not simple speed-cameras, doesn't it?

The pro-camera brigade will have noticed that of all the roads in the purge, not one was in a residential estate or indeed an urban environment.

Out of 27,946 vehicles checked, some 1,566 were allegedly over the speed limit.

This compares with the less than one per cent of burglaries that finish up in a court case.

The roads monitored - Belmont, Smithills Dean, Beaumont, Scout and Bradshaw Roads - are all, with the possible exception of Bradshaw Road, on a speed limit that was settled on in the dim and distant past and bears no relationship to road conditions today.

We now have an upper speed limit of 50mph on Belmont Road for the simple reason that a car travelling in an isolated part of the road ran out of space on a bend.

The police state that they are not simply concerned with raising money, but I and many thousands of motorists dispute this.

If they are concerned about reducing speed for the sake of road safety, why don't they take more interest in ensuring that all roads are adequately marked with the relevant speed limit for that road?

F Isherwood

Latham Road

Blackrod