Unprecedented efforts at speed enforcement, centered on the use of speed cameras, has failed to yield benefits in both the UK and Australia.

A new survey by the UK's Royal Auto Club found a 10 percent increase in the number of motorists in Wales who regularly ignore the posted speed limit. According to the 2005 RAC Report on Motoring, the number of British drivers who do not consider themselves law-abiding has doubled to 16 percent, or four million motorists.

These disappointing figures come in the wake of a 35 percent increase in the number of mobile speed cameras to 3,500 and a record 6,000 fixed speed cameras throughout England and Wales.

Likewise in Queensland, Australia the state has spent $4.16 million (AUD) on road safety programs and increased the usage of speed cameras. The 2004 death toll stands at 273, compared to 263 the previous year, according to the Australian Transport Safety Bureau.

Key Statistic:
Two hundred and sixty-three people died on the state's roads last year. Australian Transport Safety Bureau statistics revealed the number of fatalities in 2004 had increased compared with 2003, when 251 people died. [Courier Mail (Australia), 2/7/05]

The figures came as another survey showed Wales had one in eight of the UK's mobile speed camera sites. The 2005 RAC Report on Motoring published on Monday suggested current enforcement of speeding restrictions appeared to have little impact.

Courier Mail (Australia), 2/7/05: RACQ public policy executive manager Ken Willett said Queensland's run-down roads were contributing to high carnage rates, but the State Government was diverting blame to "idiot" drivers. He said less money should be pumped into road safety campaigns and more cash directed to the state's "goat tracks"... "Make roads safer. Don't have trees on bends, have wider, safer shoulders and better-built roads."