Shropshire's most prolific speed camera catches a motorist every hour in 2023

Almost all of these were for low-level speeding infringements, where a speed awareness course was offered as an alternative to points and a conviction.

By far the county's most prolific camera was the one on the A518, approaching the junction from the direction of Telford town centre and Trench Lock garage. This camera caught 8,811 drivers, a rate of one every hour. Of these, 8,395 – 95 per cent – were for speeds of 42mph or less.

A second camera on the junction, approaching along the A518 from the direction of Hortonwood and Apley, is the county's second most prolific camera, catching 3,105 speeding drivers. That means an average of eight drivers a day are caught by the camera.

Of the drivers caught by the A518 camera, almost 98 per cent are for minor offences.

Despite the high number of speeding offences being committed on the junction, the actual number of collisions is not as high as one might think.

Over the past five years, four collisions have been recorded on the junction, none of them involving serious injury. There was, however, a serious collision on the approach to the junction from Trench Lock on June 21 last year. The three-car collision left the driver of one car needing to be taken to hospital after being cut free by firefighters.

However, the accident rate at the next junction south along the A442 Queensway, where the road meets the B4373 Wrockwardine Wood Way, appears to be far more serious.

That junction has seen eight collisions over the same period, including the crash which claimed the lives of 12-year-old Neve Cotgrave Hewitt and 36-year-old Scott Matthews, both from Newport. Two teenage boys, aged 16 and 13, were also taken to hospital with substantial but non life-threatening injuries.

The speed camera on the A442 Trench Lock Interchange caused controversy in 2019 after a motorist was wrongly issued a ticket while travelling at just 20mph.

Dash camera footage showed the driver was clocked when he had actually been overtaken by another vehicle which was breaking the limit.

West Mercia Police put the mistake down to 'a single human error'.

Shropshire's next most prolific camera is on the A5 at Shotatton, near Ruyton X, which issued 1,823 tickets, 1,578 of which were for minor infringements.

The camera in Longden Road, Shrewsbury, issued 430 tickets, while the one in Gobowen Road, Oswestry, caught 427 drivers, all but 18 being for minor offences.

A camera in Mytton Oak Road, Shrewsbury, clocked 465 offences, while the one in Station Road, Ketley, Telford, caught 332 drivers.

A camera in Haybridge Road, Telford, issued 581 tickets.

A spokeswoman for West Mercia Police, who declined to be named, said: "Fixed enforcement cameras are in locations where there is a history of fatal and serious road traffic collisions, and a proven speeding issue.

"Enforcement takes place to reduce speeds and ultimately reduce collisions and casualties. All our sites differ in terms of road, speed limit, environment, volume of traffic, so it is difficult to comment on why offence figures are higher at some sites than others as it is not a direct comparison.

"All our enforcement sites are reviewed annually to ensure they are continuing to do their job."