A MOBILE speed camera set up in Great Malvern has resulted in a big cut in the number of drivers caught going too fast.

The Safety Camera Partnership first set up the camera on the B4211 Barnards Green Road in May and, since then, the mobile camera van has visited the site on average twice a month.

Claire Greenow, an analyst for the partnership, said in the first six months of operation, 70 speeding drivers were detected. During the first three months there was an average of 19 offences per month, but the latter three saw only four per month.

"We take this as very much a positive sign, that offences levels have decreased by 80 per cent in such a short period of time," Ms Greenow said.

"We believe it's testimony to our policy of regular enforcement of priority locations such as this, irrespective of the number of offences we detect, and should enforce the positive message that we are here to reduce speed and related collisions, not to catch people out unfairly."

The site was originally chosen because of the number of accidents over a 2.7km stretch of the B4211 between the start of 1999 and the end of 2001. There were nine serious injury accidents and a further 17 of lesser severity.

A speed survey conducted in May 2002 found that 71 per cent of vehicles were exceeding the 30mph speed limit, with three per cent exceeding it by more than 15mph.

Another survey in July 2003 showed only 36 per cent of traffic was speeding.

The Safety Camera Partnership is a collaborative effort between local authorities and the police.