IT may not be a full-blown U-turn, but the brake on the introduction of new speed cameras in Lancashire next year is evidently a reaction to public complaints about motorists being over-targeted by the police.

Although the year-long pause on installing new cameras will allow experts to determine whether more are needed or whether existing ones need to be re-sited, in this ease-off there is clearly a move to win back the support of droves of disaffected drivers.

For now the Lancashire Partnership for Road Safety, the police-and-councils body responsible for the 200-plus fixed cameras and 94 mobile units already in operation, is switching its focus to tackling speeding and bad driving in residential areas. And under consideration is a scheme to give drivers caught speeding in such localities a warning and a suspended punishment rather than a fixed penalty fine.

This is a sensible approach that puts the focus where it is most needed -- and one far less likely to alienate drivers who view cameras placed on non-residential dual carriageways as unnecessary and unfair means of raking in fines revenue.

The debate over speed cameras that has raged in our letters page for at least two years suggests that the limit of the public's tolerance for their extent in Lancashire has been reached and it seems that at last some heed is being paid.