More councils should follow the example of Swindon and get rid of speed cameras, MP Mark Field said yesterday.

The MP for the Cities of London and Westminster travelled to the Wiltshire town to make a film arguing that speed cameras are used to raise money for the Treasury, not to improve road safety.

Swindon hit the headlines last year when the council voted to stop funding the cameras, and use the £320,000 spent on them every year on other road safety projects.

But South Swindon MP Anne Snelgrove hit back yesterday accusing the council of taking a gamble with people's lives.

In his film, made for the BBC, Mr Field says: "Here in Swindon the local authority is taking a lead.

"They are not going to fund speed cameras any more, and I hope that many other local authorities across the country will follow suit, to ensure that the long-suffering motorist is no longer put under such a disadvantage."

The MP told the Western Daily Press: "Swindon is a Tory local authority and is the first that has decided it will get rid of speed cameras, as part of a road safety package.

"The reality is there are one million drivers on the roads who don't have tax, insurance or a licence, and speed cameras do not catch them."

He said this group were nine times more likely to cause a crash and could only be spotted by transport police on patrol – yet there had been an almost 20 per cent decline in traffic officers in a decade.

Mr Field obtained figures using freedom of information, and found speed camera offences had rocketed in 10 years. There were 262,000 in 1996 and 1,865,000 a decade later, while the number of speed cameras rose from 2,000 in 2000 to more than 5,500 by 2006.

Mr Field insisted: "The use of speed cameras transformed the disqualification system into one of Russian roulette – the more you drive the greater your chance of getting a ticket."

He added: "The conventional wisdom that speed is the best measure of poor driving should be challenged, as well as the idea that the use of speed cameras makes us better drivers.

"I am not speaking up for the small group of very bad and aggressive drivers. What I object to is the excessive use of speed cameras and overzealous penalising of drivers.

"Driving at 60mph at night time on an empty 50mph dual carriageway for instance does not endanger lives."

South Swindon Labour MP Anne Snelgrove hit back, telling the Daily Press: "Swindon council are conducting a dangerous experiment with people's lives.

"If they are wrong, more of my constituents will die on the roads and that is why it is a gamble I oppose."

Bridgwater Tory MP Ian Liddell-Grainger said: "Speed cameras should be a lifesaver – not a money maker."

He said Avon & Somerset chief constable Colin Port had got it right, only siting speed cameras where there are known problems, such as proven accident blackspots.

"I think he should be applauded, as nobody wants crashes at bad junctions, and cameras can save lives, but they should not be used to raise money.

"But I think it is disgraceful the way Wiltshire use them on the motorway, as they are the safest roads and I think it is a moneymaking scam."

Daily Press research has found the number of South West motorists hit with fixed penalty notices rose dramatically in the years after 1997, but then began to fall. There was a five-fold increase to more than 300,000 between 1997 and 2004, but then dropped to just over 260,000 the following year.

MPs have demanded more speed cameras to prevent deaths on roads and called for additional funding to be made available so more fixed sites can be covered.

And national road safety charity Brake has criticised Swindon's decision and said speed cameras are an important tool in catching drivers who break the law and put lives in danger.