Camera enforcement brought in £114 million (US $217 million) in revenue for England and Wales in 2003, according to the latest figures released today by the UK government's Home Office. Over 1.9 million £60 citations were issued by speed cameras and red light cameras, accounting for nearly all the speeding tickets issued -- 93 percent.

The government is not alone in sharing the record revenue levels. Because motorists also receive points against their driver's license for each ticket received, they will also see a spike in their annual insurance premium. A survey found that, on average, a single camera ticket increases the insurance rate by an estimated five to seven percent. Two tickets generally results in a 21 percent increase. A third ticket can result in a 40-52 percent increase.

Police are clearly becoming more aggressive as "warnings" are becoming a thing of the past. Twenty years ago, the police issued 326,000 warnings. That number has steadily dropped to 57,300 in the latest figures. A staggering 47 percent of motorists in England and Wales received either a traffic or parking ticket in 2003, up from 40 percent in 1997. At the same time, the number of deaths on UK roads increased 2 percent from 3,431 in 2002 to 3,508 in 2003.

The full text of the report is available in a 414k PDF file below.

The number of motoring offences dealt with by official police action or penalty charge notice in 2003 was 13.2 million, up 15 per cent on 2002 and the highest number recorded... Cameras provided evidence for 1.9 million offences dealt with in 2003. Overall these cameras provided evidence for 93 per cent of speeding offences dealt with.