THE Bucks Free Press did not court popularity when it campaigned for speed cameras on the M40. Far from it. We knew lots of motorists would hate this idea and label it an unnecessary cash cow for the state at the expense of the hard-pressed driver.

But, as the early evidence has shown this week, our continual reminders of the dangers of this motorway have appeared to have been worth all the effort and all the vitriol that has been poured upon us.

The police, who have always been at pains to point out that the motorway is not to blame for the recent terrible spate of accidents, were also initially not great fans of our campaign. But they admitted this week they have been encouraged with the way drivers have responded to the mobile cameras.

More motorists are now complying with the speed limits because there is a greater awareness of ‘speed enforcements’, they say.

That is great news for the motoring public as a whole because it means the M40 is now a safer place.

But the other piece of great news is that relatively few people have clocked up speeding penalties as a result of this initiative. Only 14 since October have been caught by the cameras, so this surely nails the cash cow myth.

We were branded hypocritical for our campaign. We were happy to print that criticism, but are equally happy now to print that the campaign appears to be working for the public good.