North Yorkshire's Police chief says speed cameras are not there to make money.
Instead the force's leader says revenue is pumped back into road safety.
Chief Constable Tim Forber gave the following statement:
"We are not deploying those camera vans to maximize revenue in any way.
"They're deployed purely to reduce speed and offences, which we know is a primary cause of serious collisions in the county.
"I can't be any clearer than that and I've been very clear internally.
"That is why we deploy and we do, we deploy it on the basis of risk and the impact that can have in terms of reducing casualties."
Last month, North Yorkshire's first fixed speed camera in Sherburn was taken down within hours of its installation.
Police say it was vandalised and are still looking for the culprits.
Ben Moseley, Assistant Chief Constable of North Yorkshire Police, said:
“The purpose of trialling the first fixed speed camera is to reduce the risk of casualties from road traffic collisions. The location on the A64 was chosen due to the high volume of speeding offences that were captured by mobile safety vans which, when working in tandem with fixed cameras, can make a significant contribution towards safety by moderating a driver’s speed in the local area.
“In the last six months in this area, 394 vehicles have been captured by mobile vans exceeding the speed limit. Safety vans typically capture 11 speeding offences an hour in Sherburn, while the average across the county is five offences an hour. We have even had a driver in the same area exceeding 60mph in a 30mph zone at 9.30am. The community is being put at risk by irresponsible drivers and the fixed camera is part of a blended enforcement approach, along with safety camera vans, to keep both motorists and pedestrians safe."
Chief Constable Forber gave the following reassurance:
" Those revenues are there to fund the safety camera unit to make sure that we've got the resources to be able to continue that enforcement, but also to fund the education programmes and some of the road engineering to actually improve safety at particular hotspots. All that's done through the road safety partnership.
"What the revenues from that don't do is come into funding broader policing and I do want to give the public reassurance around that. It's not that we are pulling out a speed enforcement and the revenue from that is directly playing for police officers to police York on a Saturday night. That's not happening. What revenues do come back into the force are used to continue to improve road safety."
North Yorkshire is one of the only police force areas in England and Wales to not currently have fixed or average camera sites.
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