More than two million people have received £60 fines and three penalty points this year, according to the Association of Chief Police Officers. Next year the number is predicted to rise to three million.

Many drivers are now being banned after reaching the 12-point limit with their fourth speeding offence. Thousands are resorting to legal loopholes to challenge penalties and the courts are becoming clogged with cases.

Alistair Darling, the Transport Secretary, is trying to quell public anger by promising to clamp down on “rogue cameras” which raise money with little discernible road safety benefit. The Department for Transport privately fears it will lose the battle for public opinion next year.

The Conservatives are today increasing the pressure on Mr Darling by promising a national audit of Britain’s 4,500 speed cameras. Damian Green, the Shadow Transport Secretary, said the Conservatives would change the law to abolish penalty points for speeding in most areas. Drivers flashed by a speed camera would receive only a fine and would not risk losing their licence. Mr Green said he would retain penalty points only at sites where there was the greatest risk of death from speeding. There were “likely to be less than a thousand” of these locations, where points could be incurred, rather than 4,500 a present.

He said: “If people feel, as they do now increasingly, that cameras are just being used to raise revenue, then drivers will start to detach the whole concept of cameras from safety. The danger is that millions of people are starting to think that the law is being imposed in an arbitrary way.”

Mr Green said the Conservatives would balance the abolition of points at most locations by increasing the penalties for speeding in the most dangerous places, including outside schools and in areas where there were many pedestrians.

“We would look at whether you would get four or five points rather than just three. The fines could also be doubled in the most serious areas.” Increasing the points for serious offences would mean a driver being banned after being caught a third time.

Mr Green, who was himself recently caught doing 50mph in a 40mph zone, also promised to reinvest profits from speed camera fines in road safety measures. At present, camera partnerships between police forces and local authorities keep most of the money to cover the costs of speed limit enforcement. The surplus of about £20 million a year goes to the Exchequer.

The Conservatives would also dismantle the camera partnerships and leave speed enforcement solely to the police. Under the Government’s expansion of camera enforcement, every force apart from Durham has teamed up with the local authority to create a team of civilian staff dedicated to catching motorists with cameras.

Mr Green said: “It has created another bureaucracy because the partnerships have to raise enough money to fund themselves. In the way of all institutions, they are encouraged to raise more money so they can become bigger.”

Mr Darling has tried to limit the ambitions of partnerships by instructing his officials to write to each one demanding that they review all cameras to ensure that they comply with national rules. In a letter obtained by The Times, Sandy Bishop, head of road safety at the Department for Transport, told partnership managers: “I am asking you personally to confirm that your partnership is adhering strictly to the guidance and rules.” The rules state that cameras must be clearly visible, painted yellow and placed only on roads where there have been at least four deaths or serious injuries in the previous three years.

The AA Motoring Trust welcomed the Tory proposal and said it could help to prop up dwindling public support for speed cameras. John Dawson, the trust’s director, said: “With one prosecution for every ten motorists next year, there is a serious risk of losing support for cameras and seeing sympathy rise for people who smash and burn them.”

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