A retired traffic cop and a civil servant are among six civilian recruits replacing police officers behind Cumbria's speed cameras.

Cumbria Police's safety camera project hired the group to avoid paying for expensive police overtime needed to man the van-mounted equipment.

Despite paying the five people a salary of around £16,000 each, the project will save £160,000 on its operating budget, which will pay for a third speed camera van on the county's roads.

Kevin Tea, project communications manager, said the cameras were slashing the numbers of deaths and serious injuries on the county's roads.

"With two vans we've managed to get a 40 per cent reduction in KSIs (incidents where people are killed or seriously injured) in the 47 accident hot spots in Cumbria," he said.

"If we can achieve a 40 per cent reduction with two vans, we are hoping the third will give us a bigger saving."

He added the extra van had nothing to do with revenue, as the project is not allowed to make a profit, but it was difficult to convince motorists of that point.

All five civilian camera operators, he said, had been trained to police standard and had spent six weeks learning on the roads.

Chairman of the Cumberland and Westmorland Institute of Advanced Motorists, David Kerry, said motorists still questioned where their fines went and whether cameras were placed in the right spots.

Mr Kerry, who is also the senior road safety officer for Cumbria County Council, said: "Most of the problem relating to speed and driving is that people take a driving test and think they know it all."

He said that if people are observing the speed limit, there is nothing to worry about but added varying situations changed the most appropriate speed.

"What's speeding?" he said. "In the wrong place it can be going 30mph outside a school, despite it being allowed."

Claire Price, regional spokeswoman for the Automobile Association, cautiously welcomed the news, provided "it released police time to do more important things".

"But if it's releasing that time, we would like to see them out patrolling the roads," she said. "Speed cameras are fine but what they don't pick up is the other forms of dangerous driving, like drink driving."

She reassured drivers that the camera operators were not allowed to make any judgments on speeding offences.