The drop in the number of speed cameras in Scotland over the last five years may have decreased the country’s annual accident rate.

The number of cameras decreased from 509 in 2005 to 460 in 2009 and accidents fell from 13,438 to 11,547.

Despite overall decreases, the city of Aberdeen, a region that has almost halved the number of speed cameras since 2005, has seen an increase in road accidents, from 431 to 445.

In Dundee, the number of accidents was up from 270 to 281, while the number of cameras declined from seven to six.

Scottish Safety Camera Programme director Jim Dale said the effectiveness of cameras at common accident spots was being assessed constantly but pointed out that cameras cannot be the solution for reducing accident levels.