Flash! Flash! You're nicked! 

Gotcha!: a mobile speed camera operating on a bridge near Jnct. 15 calyx multimedia

Watch out, there's a speed camera about!

 
That's the message from Swindon Traffic Police aimed at speeding motorists travelling along the M4 motorway.

 
And if you thought that doing 79 mph won't get your collar (or should we say wallet) felt, then think again.

 
In a new crack down by the boys in blue, drivers putting their foot to the floor that little bit too much face an automatic £60 fine and 3 points on their license.

 
And with statistics pointing to the fact that half of all cars on motorways exceed the speed limit, and a fifth travel at more than 80mph, it looks like Swindon Traffic Police will be running up tickets like no tomorrow.

 
Until now, existing patrols have tended to book only motorists who only exceed 85mph.

 

"Speeding costs lives," said a Swindon Traffic spokesman, "and this initiative aims to reduce road casualties on this stretch of motorway by 40 per cent."

 
But motoring groups have accused the Wiltshire & Swindon Safety Camera Partnership of seeking to raise revenue without offering any evidence that safety would be improved.

 
Under Department for Transport rules, camera partnerships can only deploy mobile cameras on sections where there have been at least two collisions resulting in death or serious injuries per kilometre in the previous three years.

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The Wiltshire partnership, which includes the police and the county council, argue that the casualty rate on the M4 is higher than on the average motorway and meets the level required by the department.

 
There were 18 deaths, 69 serious injuries and 641 slight injuries between junctions 15 and 17 between 2001 and 2004.

 
"It's just a money-making scheme," said one critic.