SPEEDING motorists will be the target of a countywide crackdown, launched to coincide with the annual pre-Christmas drink-drive campaign.

The aim is to reduce the number of people killed or seriously hurt in road accidents.

Seventy people lost their lives in road accidents in Lancashire last year, 1,000 suffered serious injuries and another 9,000 were less seriously hurt.

The campaign target is to save 40 lives over three years with corresponding fewer injury victims.

The scheme is part of the £10million Lancashire Partnership for Road Safety Project, due for launch on November 21. The total cost to the county community from road accidents has been estimated at £370million. Speed cameras at fixed sites are to be increased from 69 to 320 by the end of 2004. There will also be more mobile speed cameras in use.

There will be strict enforcement of speed limits. A Lancashire Constabulary spokesman said first time offenders would have the option to attend a speed awareness course instead of taking the licence points and fines. The massive programme will also involve education on road safety issues. It follows pilot schemes in other areas where councils and police can claim revenue from fines to spend on improving road safety.

Supt Chris Weigh, operations manager for the Pennine division which covers all of Burnley, Pendle and Rossendale, told the police and community forum at Burnley Town Hall that eight people had been killed on the roads of the division last year. A further 140 were seriously injured with another 1,200 injured.

Supt Weigh said the Lancashire Partnership for Road Safety hoped there would be a swing in public opinion against speeders as there had been against drink-drivers.

Speed was a cause of injury and death. He added: "Extensive publicity and marketing will be followed up by fairly heavy enforcement. The key message is that reducing speed saves lives."

There would be high profile policing and enforcement around known crash sites and vulnerable areas, such as near schools.

He added: "We are not bothered if we don't get people caught on the cameras. It is about reducing speed not about raising money from fines."

The last Christmas drink driving campaign in Lancashire saw the arrest of 135 people across the county for either providing a positive breath test or refusing to give one. There were 3,158 roadside tests, with 4.7 per cent resulting in an arrest.The year before there were 237 positive tests or refusals out of 3,882 checks, a percentage of 6.1.