No-flash speed cameras rolled out

The digital cameras will replace the Gatso models

A new generation of digital speed cameras which do not flash are being rolled out across London.

The cameras are activated by a loop embedded in the road surface and take three pictures, one of which identifies the details of the offending vehicle.

Two hundred of the devices are planned to be operational by 2007 and up to a 1,000 by the end of the decade.

The London Safety Camera Partnership (LSCP) said the new cameras will improve safety on the city's roads.

Improved technology

The plans were announced to coincide with national Child Safety Week to highlight the number of child casualties prevented by safety cameras.

Some 487 children under 16-years-old were killed or seriously injured on London's roads in 2004.

However, the LSCP said the number of child casualties has fallen by a third in 2004 compared with 2000.

The new digital cameras, which transfer images electronically to a processing centre, will progressively replace the Gatso cameras.

"The new technology is better," said Mr Lines, of the LSCP. "We don't have to visit the site, which makes them better.

"They're just the way forward, we think, for safety cameras in London."