LIKE millions of fellow motorists I've been snared by speed cameras four times to be frank.

Fortunately my penchant for speed goes unnoticed most of the time and the incidences where I've been zapped have been spread evenly over the past ten years.

But in the event where my recklessness has been caught on camera, I have always admitted accountability and taken the punishment on the chin.

After all, I was behind the wheel and while I'm sat there it's me who is ultimately responsible for my own actions, be it speeding, smoking, eating or cursing.

Which is why I'm having trouble understanding why so many people have contacted Midweek to complain about fines they've chalked up for speeding on Marlow Hill.

I've answered phone call after phone call alluding to police lining their pockets, motorists being cash cows, the unfair positioning of mobile cameras and poor signage.

But no matter how hard I try to sympathise with these people, I can't. Because at the end of the day if you didn't speed, you wouldn't get done.

At the risk of sounding condescending, I would like to point out, for those of you that haven't already noticed, there is a big fat sign indicating speed enforcement is in operation on the hill.

And right next to that is a sign indicating a 30mph zone. Now if that isn't enough to warn motorists of what may lie ahead, then what is?

As for the argument that the camera is often placed close to where the limit increases to 40mph, well I can't quite get my head round this one.

It doesn't matter that the camera is "close" to a 40mph zone. It's in a 30mph, fact. Speed limits are set. There's nothing in the Highway Code that says you can exceed one limit before you enter another.

Speaking of the Highway Code, for those that don't already know, paragraph 103 details how the distance between lampposts indicates a speed limit 200 yards in the case of a 30mph zone.

It reads: "The 30mph limit applies to all traffic on all roads in England (and Wales) with street lighting unless shown otherwise."

Well, just for good measure there are signs on Marlow Hill indicating the lower section is a 30mph zone. Surely there can be no complaints?

But it's the argument that police are purposely targeting motorists to raise cash that troubles me most.

If people bothered reading a newspaper they would discover that the police are not responsible for enforcement. That is the duty of road safety partnerships, of which the police are members.

And as for revenue raised through fines, partnerships only recoup costs, the rest wheels its way to the Treasury.

So instead of wasting time moaning why not put it to good use and swot up on a copy of the Highway Code.