SPEED cameras in the North-East have saved health and emergency services millions of pounds over the past year, according to a new report.

With three fewer deaths in the Northumbria Police area, 18 fewer serious injuries and 27 fewer minor injuries at camera sites, the total saving has been £8,094,120 - nearly double the amount received in fines.

It is impossible to estimate the emotional cost to friends and families of those killed and seriously injured on the roads.

But the average financial cost of these collisions has recently been estimated at £1,492, 910 for a fatal collision, £174,530 for a serious injury collision and £17,550 for a slight collision.

Speeding fines during the year amounted to £4,298,820, with £2,584,896 being reinvested into partnership running costs, including staffing, public relations, research, cameras, accommodation, vehicles and IT, and the remainder of £1,713,924 retained by the Treasury.

The number of people killed or injured at camera sites in the region has fallen by 22 per cent in the two years since the partnership was formed.

The figures are revealed in Northumbria Safety Camera Partnership's second annual report, which has just been published.

It includes an update on the Safe Speed for Life campaign, collision data and information about safety cameras.

Project manager Ray King said: "There will always be those who want to focus on the money issue, at the expense of everything else, which tends to detract from the fact that, used alongside other road safety measures, safety cameras play an important part in reducing the number of people killed and seriously injured on our roads, as these figures show."