After widespread criticism of speed cameras being deliberately hidden from motorists so that they made money from fines instead of slowing drivers down, the Government vowed to act. David Blunkett promised that speed cameras would be painted in hi-viz colours like the ones trialled in Plymouth. This would, he said, prove that the Government was interested in road safety and not yet another stealth motoring tax.

Yet most police forces have completely ignored the requirement, leaving their cameras in grey boxes and continuing to hide them behind road-signs and hedges. And many police forces which claim to have hi-viz cameras are painting them ... dark blue!

Norfolk Chief Constable Ken Williams said in August that speed cameras should be "bright and visible". He said "Our whole policy is not about catching speeding motorists, but about changing the behaviour of drivers." And yet the colour he selected to make sure motorists spot cameras turns out to be dark blue! *See Footnote   Police in Northants have pulled the same trick.

The Association of British Drivers today called on David Blunkett to make good on his promise that cameras will be used to slow drivers down, not to generate revenue from fines.

"We want to see the government put their money where their mouth is," said ABD spokesman Ben Lovejoy. "If they genuinely want to use cameras as a safety tool, they will detect inappropriate speed and ensure that they can be clearly seen. If, on the other hand, they simply want to use them as yet another stealth tax on motorists, they will continue to paint them in grey and blue and continue to hide them behind road-signs and the like."

The ABD believes that hidden cameras not only do nothing to make roads safer, they can actually make them more dangerous. "There is a danger that drivers busy scanning for hard-to-spot cameras may pay too little attention to pedestrians, cyclists and other drivers, making a stretch of road more dangerous," said Ben Lovejoy.

Government claims that existing cameras save lives just don't add up. If you add up all of the claimed reductions in fatalities - 67 here, 35 there, 27 on this stretch, 45 on that stretch - the total adds up to many hundreds of lives the Government says have been saved by cameras. And yet if you look at the actual road casualty statistics, the total UK fall in deaths in the last 12 months was just 14 - well within the usual random up-and-down range.

The ABD called for the Government to enforce a uniform national scheme for bright Gatsos:

• All speed cameras should be painted in a single colour-scheme: bright yellow with diagonal red stripes, as used in the highly successful Plymouth scheme where speeding dropped by 80% and injury accidents dropped by 43% when a Bright Gatso was used to protect a pedestrian crossing
• It should be illegal to hide speed cameras behind road-signs, bridges, hedges and the like.
• The government should set a two-month deadline for all existing cameras to meet these standards.

Bright Gatsos have almost universal support:

• The Institute of Advanced Motorists (IAM) said in a press release: 'We are opposed to the use of excessive or inappropriate speed but we are a bit suspicious that [grey Gatsos] are not being used to deter speeding. If they are supposed to deter people, why are they not clearly marked? Why are they hidden behind bridges and painted grey?' Press Officer Vince Yearley went on to say: 'They should be brightly coloured, with flashing signs underneath saying what the limit is at that point.'

• Chief Constable Richard Brunstrom has told the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Road Safety at the House of Commons: 'We need many more cameras and for them to be more visible. They ought to be bright yellow with locations published in the newspapers so that people know where they are and why they are there.'

• Former Association of Chief Police Officers traffic spokesman Kevin Delaney (now with the RAC Foundation) said he felt 'bitterly let down by the way Gatsos have been introduced. It wasn't what I or any of my colleagues saw as the aim of the experiment when we signed up to it.'

• South Yorkshire Police accident investigator Andy O'Hagan said, after Doncaster followed the Plymouth lead by painting six cameras on A630 bright yellow: 'It would be great if all forces in the country followed our lead.' Speed camera monitor Inspector Tim Mullins added: 'We are not interested in catching people. If we don't catch any speeders then the cameras have done their job. What is the point in having a deterrent if it is not visible?'

• AA spokesman Steve Upsher said: 'The best way to reduce accidents is to have well-seen deterrents. The more people who are aware of cameras, the better effect they have.'

• RAC spokesman Peter Brill said: 'Speed cameras have to be used appropriately and not just as a way of generating revenue.'

• Transport Research Laboratory spokesman Mike Winnett said of hidden and inappropriately-sited Gatsos: 'This is not what Gatsos were designed for.'

Bright Gatsos are also unbeatable value for money. Painting the cameras in Plymouth cost just £250 - making them the cheapest road safety initiative around. Done nationally, the cost per camera would be even lower.

"The ABD is not opposed to speed cameras in principle," said the ABD's Ben Lovejoy. "If they were positioned outside schools, placed in sight and painted in hi-viz colours, we believe that they genuinely would save lives. But dark and hidden cameras on safe stretches of road can achieve only one thing: generate revenue for the Treasury. Let's see an end to stealth taxation and use them as a proper road safety tool."