THERE is no doubt that the speed-camera blitz in Lancashire, with 230 due to be in place by the end of the month, has provoked much controversy and considerable resentment.

It is, therefore, intriguing to observe that the police-and-councils body behind the anti-speeding campaign, the Lancashire Partnership for Road Safety, has taken a novel step to stress its positive aspects - by recruiting Irish comedian Jimmy Cricket to endorse it after he himself was caught speeding.

The bottom line of the drive, of course, is to cut death and injury on the roads which, with a toll of 3,500 killed and 40,000 injured on them every year, are far too high.

But if that aim is blurred or blunted by the many negatives that it has thrown up among motorists, especially those caught by the expanding network of cameras, then they need to be countered.

And employing a popular figure like TV comic Jimmy to explain how it can make the roads safer for everyone is, surely, a shrewd and inventive way of getting the advantages across.

In particular, as part of the partnership's recently-launched media effort to raise support for the anti-speeding purge, Jimmy will be stressing the contribution to road safety that comes from the speed awareness course that is an important extension of the campaign.

For it is an alternative to the catch-and-fine side of the camera blitz and allows drivers to escape the £60 fines for speeding and the three-points penalty on their licences if they sign up for it - as Jimmy did after he was caught doing 35mph in a 30mph zone.

The course, which more than 3,500 drivers have undergone since it was launched in December, aims to alert motorists to the dangers of speeding, even by only a few miles an hour over the limit. It is, says Jimmy, a softer approach that lets people make amends and at the same time improve their driving skills so that the roads become much safer for everyone.

And safer roads mean fewer deaths and injuries - that's the positive punchline of Jimmy's message.