DRIVERS in Poole need to be on their best behaviour from today as traffic light cameras start to catch speeding drivers.

The Dorset Safety Camera Partnership (DSCP) is making the move as part of a drive to meet the government target of a 40 per cent reduction in the number of people killed or seriously injured in road collisions by 2010.

Under the “speed on green” idea, the red light safety cameras which previously only nabbed drivers jumping red lights will now also be used to catch speeding vehicles when the light is green.

The idea is being introduced in Poole at the junction of Holes Bay Road and Sterte Road, where the limit is 30mph, and could be used elsewhere later.

But anti-speed camera group Dorset Speed has rubbished the plans, saying they are aimed only at making money.

A spokesman called it “almost certainly the most ridiculous speed enforcement ever set up, anywhere” and said: “This has one of the most inappropriate and therefore widely-ignored 30 limits in the area.

“It is not an accident blackspot, and yet it will be enforced with rigid 30mph detection 24 hours a day. The income generated will be huge, the benefit to road safety virtually nothing.”

But Johnny Stephens, head of fixed penalties at the DSCP, said: “We have been conducting trials at various traffic light junctions in Dorset.

“The results have not been used for enforcement purposes, but have alerted us to the alarming number of vehicles speeding while crossing the junctions.

“Exceeding the speed limit through a traffic light junction is extremely dangerous and this initiative is designed to ensure that collisions are prevented by ensuring that drivers abide with legal and appropriate speeds.”