I HAVE to admit surprise at the recent disclosure by Lee Bracewell (Letters, September 23) about a mobile camera unit operating on the M65.

For during a discussion earlier this year with Ian Bell, of the Lancashire Partnership for Road Safety, I asked if there were any plans to place cameras on the motorways in Lancashire and was told "no."

My question was raised due to my concern at the revenue-gathering activities of some police forces who were booking hundreds of motorists an hour by placing cameras on motorway bridges.

One has to ask why the partnership has changed its policy.

However there is a simple answer -- the partnership is now an expensive quango to administer and having seen their revenue from fines decrease dramatically, they have to find a new way of milking the motorist before they can install the latest batch of cameras.

This is hypocrisy of the highest order.

Some of the biggest improvements in road safety highlighted in this newspaper recently have owed nothing to speed cameras but everything to road engineering and other safety measures.

But who do you think will claim credit for this at the end of the year?

Road safety is a concern for us all, but the continued preoccupation with speed does us all a disservice.

STEPHEN SADLER, Valley Drive, Padiham.