Most drivers caught by speed cameras "should not get points"

Shadow transport secretary Damian Green said many drivers caught by speed cameras should face only fines, not points on their licences.

But stricter penalties - such as four or five points and higher fines - would be given for speeding in more dangerous areas, such as outside schools.

Speed limits in such areas would also be cut from 30 to 20mph, he said.

Camera audit

Drivers risk losing their licences if they reach 12 penalty points, a limit which can currently be reached with only four offences.

An estimated two million people received £60 fines and three penalty points in the last year, according to police chiefs.

Millions of people are starting to think that the law is being imposed in an arbitrary way Damian Green

Many of these were caught by Britain's 4,500 speed cameras.

But Mr Green said only about 1,000 areas, where the risk of death was highest, should carry penalty points.

He also called for an audit of the country's cameras, to find out which ones actually reduced road accidents and which appeared to be there just to raise money.

"Many motorists are very suspicious that too many of the cameras are there to raise money, rather than to make our roads safer", Mr Green told BBC News.

He said the Treasury currently collected £20m a year in speeding fines and suggested "all money raised by speed camera fines should go back into road safety" to restore confidence in the system.

Mr Green said the current system undermined confidence in the way road safety was being enforced.

He said: "The danger is that millions of people are starting to think that the law is being imposed in an arbitrary way."

AA reaction

Andrew Howard, from the AA, said he was "puzzled by the proposals", which sent mixed messages to motorists.

He said it effectively created a two-tier classification for speeding "safely" and "unsafely", and would confuse drivers.

"Most people cannot look at a road and say that is safe and that is unsafe," he said.

Mr Howard said he did not consider the current laws to be unduly harsh: "If you receive four speeding fines in three years, I don't think many people would think you were unfortunate (to earn 12 points and lose your licence)."

'Dangerous areas'

Dismissing fears road safety would be undermined, Mr Green said the Tories would target the most dangerous areas, particularly those used by many pedestrians and children.

Taking 10mph off the speed limit in those areas and increasing the penalties for speeding would do a great deal to help, he claimed.

"Drivers would know that in those particularly dangerous areas they absolutely shouldn't even think about speeding beyond what would be a lower limit."