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Clusters of speed cameras that will monitor drivers’ average speed on all routes across a wide area are to be deployed on hundreds of roads next year.

It will be impossible to evade detection because the digital cameras will cover every entry and exit point and, unlike the earlier speed cameras, will never run out of film.

Drivers who slow down briefly or who make a detour from the main route will still be caught because up to 50 of the cameras will work together in a network. They can be positioned more than 15 miles apart and will automatically read numberplates and transmit data instantly to a penalty processing centre.

Existing average-speed cameras cover a maximum of six miles, work in pairs and have to be connected by a cable, so their installation is costly and time-consuming. Drivers can also escape detection by turning off the route between the cameras.

Police trials of the new cameras have concluded successfully in London and a second set of trials will finish this week in Northern Ireland. The Home Office is expected to approve the technology by the end of January and the first fines are likely to be issued by next summer.

Jim Fitzpatrick, the Road Safety Minister, said yesterday that the new cameras would bring significant safety benefits as well as reduce congestion by making traffic flow more smoothly. “When the Home Office approves the equipment, I think there will be great interest among the safety-camera partnerships. They will give a more sophisticated edge to cameras than the blunt instrument we have at the moment.”

Mr Fitzpatrick said that existing pairs of average speed cameras, which are mainly used to enforce temporary speed limits through roadworks, had already demonstrated the value of monitoring speed over a long distance rather than a few yards. “Wherever there are average-speed camera signs, the traffic moves at a uniform pace. Congestion reduces and accidents reduce.”

On the M1 the number of casualties halved after average-speed cameras were introduced on a contraflow between junctions 6a and 10.

Compliance tends to be very high: a pair of cameras on the M4 between junctions 10 and 12 issues only one penalty for every 10,000 drivers.

The new cameras, known as Specs3, will cost typically £300,000 per network. They are likely to be deployed first on long rural A roads, where crashes occur frequently but in many different places, making it impractical to deploy conventional speed cameras, which each cover less than 100 yards of road.

Several local authorities are also planning to use Specs3 to enforce 20mph limits on networks of residential roads. Transport for London has already carried out trials of the technology in Camden, North London, and found that speed-limit compliance rose sharply despite there being no fines issued.

The Association of British Drivers, which campaigns against speed cameras, said that Specs3 could cause drivers to lose concentration. Brian Gregory, a founder member, said: “People put the car in cruise control and the mind in neutral. It’s so boring driving through these sections at a constant slow speed that people are going to drop off.”