Rocked by public mistrust of speed camera enforcement, Welsh officials are launching a slick public relations offensive to improve the device's image. The South Wales Safety Camera partnership's new marketing campaign features a happy speed camera cartoon character in advertisements on buses and highway rest stops. "We don't want your money, we don't want your licence, we just want to save lives," reads the new slogan for the speed cameras.

Angharad Neagle, with the camera partnership said, "Our smiling, winking character gives the speed camera a friendly appeal, it gives it an identity... We want to move away from the £60, three points image and to show motorists that speed cameras are their friends."

In 2002, the friendly cameras issued 221,700 tickets collecting £13.3 million (US $25 million) in revenue. Across both England and Wales, combined revenue from the cameras has reached nearly $900 million (US) since their introduction.

Paul Smith, founder of the anti-cameras group SafeSpeed, said, "These cameras are just designed to catch responsible motorists who have never had an accident but are going a few miles per hour over the speed limit."