MR Stephen Sadler argues (LET, July 28) that as speed is the principle cause of accidents in only a small minority of cases, a "fixation" with cameras to police speeding is a waste of time, money and effort.

He suggests safety cameras are ineffective in reducing accidents because more accidents are caused by carelessness and bad driving or for some other random reason, such as a child or dog suddenly running out into the road than they are by speed.

In this respect he is quite right. But I feel his tirade against safety cameras and safety partnerships, such as the Lancashire Partnership for Road Safety -- an organisation that I am proud to work for -- is misguided.

When we launched three years ago, our task was to reduce road accident casualty rates. The government wants the number of adults killed or seriously hurt to fall by 40 per cent come 2010 and the number of children killed or injured on our roads to be halved by that same deadline.

Achieving this and we, the Lancashire Partnership for Road Safety, are ahead of schedule, will allow millions of pounds to be redirected within the NHS as currently treating people who are injured or disabled because of road accidents costs over £10 billion a year, which is equal to a quarter of the NHS budget.

Now whatever the cause of an accident, how fast you are driving when you hit a pedestrian, cyclist, tree or another vehicle, is relevant to the likely seriousness or otherwise of the injuries you or any third party may suffer.

It is a fact that the faster you are going, the more likely you are to be badly hurt.

The Lancashire Partnership for Road Safety, along with other road safety partnerships, is focused on outcome rather than cause. By installing safety cameras at known accident blackspots, we are trying to encourage people to slow down so that should they be involved in an accident, for whatever reason, they and anyone else also involved will be less hurt.

Our ultimate goal is to have every motorist in Lancashire just easing off the accelerator, not because speed necessarily causes accidents, but because it is a principal factor in casualty outcomes and money spent picking up the pieces of road crashes could be so much better spent.

LINDA SANDERSON, Communications Manager, Lancashire Partnerships for Road Safety, Preston.