COLLISIONS have increased at one in ten speed camera sites – but smashes are down by a third overall.

Analysis of latest figures by the Bucks Free Press show an increase by as much as 75 per cent at six out of 63 fixed and mobile speed camera sites.

Overall collisions in south Buckinghamshire fell from 605 in the three years before each camera began operations to 399 in the last three years, a fall of 34 per cent.

It comes after speed camera bosses hailed a 40 per cent reduction in serious road accidents in Buckinghamshire and prepare to “prove” cameras cut crashes more than other non-camera sites.

But critic of the controversial system – which netted bosses £2.9m in 2008/09 – said cameras distracted drivers, causing crashes.

The increases are:

Mobile camera at Cressex Road, High Wycombe, increase from five to eight collisions.

Fixed camera at The Pastures, Downley, increase from four to six collisions.

Fixed camera at Dean Street, Marlow, increase from four to seven collisions.

Mobile camera at Blind Lane, Bourne End, increase from zero to four collisions.

Fixed camera at Amersham Road, Amersham, increase from seven to nine collisions.

Mobile camera at Moorfield Road, Denham Green, increase from one to two collisions.

Notable falls in collisions include a decrease from 13 to two in Station Road, Amersham, 85 per cent, and a two-thirds drop in Hamilton Road, High Wycombe.

Claire Armstrong, co-founder of the anti-speed camera group Safe Speed, said she was not surprised that collisions had increased at some sites.

She said: “Cameras are a distraction. Drivers see the camera and everything else around them disappears – at that moment it is their driving licence that is being put in danger.”

It was impossible to say whether speed cameras had led to the decreases as other factors such as motorists driving “defensively” in the recession could bring collisions down, she said.

And she said measuring a wide section of road around cameras – up to 500 metres – skewed their impact.

“It is not speeding which is at fault – it is when drivers are not driving to the conditions.

“The whole culture of driving has change. It is creating zombie drivers, they are thinking about 1,000 things because they are driving at the same speed.”

Click here to see a map of cameras and collision statistics for each.

But Thames Valley Safer Road Partnership, which is responsible for speed cameras, believes the devices have been a major factor in reducing collisions.

The number of people killed or seriously injured in Buckinghamshire has fallen by 40 per cent since cameras were brought in, Department for Transport figures show.

The partnership will soon publish a report analysing collision trends at camera and non-camera sites.

Partnership operations manager Richard Owen said: “The idea is to prove cameras have had an affect over and above the reduction in Thames Valley.

“The report will show the effectiveness of cameras within Thames Valley.”

The partnership has pledged to review why collisions have increased at some sites.

Last year 48,399 £60 tickets were paid in Thames Valley, up from 42,422 the previous year but down from a 148,608 high in 2001/02.