Speed cameras across Oxfordshire are to be switched back on eight months after they were turned off.
Funding was withdrawn last August as part of budget cuts which saw the plug pulled on 72 cameras and 89 mobile sites abandoned.
Thames Valley Police said since then the number of deaths and serious injuries on the roads had increased.
The cameras, paid for by speed awareness courses and backroom savings, will be switched back on at 0900 BST.
Figures released by police revealed that between August 2010 and January 2011 there were 18 deaths, 179 people seriously were injured and 982 people slightly injured on Oxfordshire’s roads.
Supt Rob Povey said speed enforcement worked as a deterrent to motorists.
“We think this is important because we know that speed kills and speed is dangerous,” he said.
“We have shown in Oxfordshire that speed has increased through monitoring limits and we have noticed an increase in fatalities and the number of people seriously injured in 2010.”
The cameras were switched off after funding was withdrawn by Oxfordshire County Council following government cuts to the authority’s road safety grant.
“It was madness and immoral that they were switched off”
Ellen Booth Brake
It had to save £600,000 from its road safety budget – money which would have been given to the Thames Valley Road Safety Partnership.
Councillor Rodney Rose said: “The county council did not delight in withdrawing funding for speed cameras last year, but took this decision to protect other service areas following a huge reduction in road safety grant from the government.
“Other councils across the country took the same view.”
Ellen Booth, of the charity Brake, hailed the U-turn as “fantastic news”.
“It was madness and immoral that they were switched off,” she said.
“There’s so much evidence to show just how important they are for preventing deaths and injuries on the roads.
“Speed cameras are one of the most cost-effective ways of reducing casualties and they pay for themselves.”
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