Police are being asked to review the locations of all their speed cameras to ensure they comply with strict rules.
The Department for Transport (DfT) is asking all police forces in so-called Safety Camera Partnerships to check cameras are sited according to set criteria.
Virtually every police force in the UK is part of the partnership programme, which allows them to keep cash from speeding fines generated by cameras.
Rules on where cameras can be sited state that no fixed camera can be installed unless there have been four fatalities or serious injuries within three years at a specific location.
Cameras must also be visible and well signed to give motorists as much opportunity to drive within the speed limit as possible.
Safety group Brake says these rules are too tough. A cross-party committee of MPs also criticised the criteria earlier this week.
Police are still free to use mobile cameras in hidden locations, however, but cannot keep money generated from any resulting fines. The DfT wants to ban radar-based camera-detection devices to make these covert operations more effective.
Even if cameras are not placed according to the partnership guidelines, motorists gain no defence against conviction if they have been caught exceeding the speed limit.
Just two out of the UK's 52 police forces, Durham and Merseyside, have not signed up to the partnership programme.
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