The number of motorists nabbed by cameras on Wearside's roads has increased by 30 per cent in a year.
More than 40 drivers a day are caught speeding and skipping red lights.
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ow an increase of more than 4,500 in just 12 months
And more than a quarter of a million pounds could have been shelled out by Wearside drivers if, as projected, 80 per cent of those caught paid a £60 fine.
Today crash victims' charity RoadPeace warned speeding drivers are a greater danger than yobs with knives.
Speed cameras and red light cameras on Wearside's roads have been activated 15,845 times – or 305 times a week – in 2007-08, figures from the Northumbria Safer Roads Initiative reveal.
This is up almost 30 per cent from 2006-07, when cameras were activated 11,232 times. This is partly due to there being more mobile cameras.
Amy Aeron-Thomas, executive director of RoadPeace, said speeding drivers were a greater threat than knife crime.
She said: "Sunderland residents should be warned of the increased threat on their streets. It is not armed teenagers but drivers who are putting others at risk."
"For every death from a stabbing, there are three killed by a speeding driver and for everyone murdered by shooting, there are 20 killed by a speeding driver. Slow down and stop the killing."
However motoring campaigners say speed cameras are not the way to stop accidents.
"We think they are rubbish," said Nigel Humphries, spokesman for the Association of British Drivers (ABD).
"We are particularly concerned about the fact that in areas where they are lifting off on speed cameras, convictions are actually going down, and people need to recognise that.
"These people who are caught by cameras are not causing a danger to anybody. Cameras are just annoying, they are not reducing accidents."
The ABD thinks the way to reduce accidents is getting more police on the roads instead of speed cameras, targeting uninsured and dangerous drivers rather than those who are speeding.
There are four fixed camera sites in Sunderland, 20 mobile cameras and five fixed red-light cameras.
Fixed cameras are put on roads where there has been three people killed or seriously injured in car crashes, while mobile cameras are put where there has been one person killed or seriously injured in an accident.
Not all camera activations lead to fines and penalty points as a percentage of these will be emergency vehicles and foreign drivers, while some avoid three penalty points by taking part in a speed awareness course and others are dealt with separately by the courts.
But the initiative estimates that 80 per cent of activations result in the driver being given three penalty points and a £60 fine – which means £760,560 could have been shelled out by drivers in Sunderland last year alone.
Road safety chiefs have upped their campaigns and increased the number of drivers on speed awareness courses by 70 per cent over the past year.
Jeremy Forsberg of the Northumbria Safer Roads Initiative said: "One of the major pushes has been young drivers. We're trying to work with them in terms of providing a message about the dangers they face on the roads.
"They tend to be a very vulnerable user group because of reckless behaviour and inexperience.
"We do not want to single them out, but statistics show young drivers account for 40 per cent of killed or seriously injured accidents and yet they represent only nine per cent of license holders."
One of the latest campaigns is Krashtv – a website which uses high profile racing drivers and celebrities to show the dangers of speeding and encourage safe driving.As well as education events across the city, the initiative is also encouraging local business to sign up to a road respect charter to promote road safety among employees.
For more information, log on to www.safespeedforlife.co.uk or www.krashtv.co.uk
The full article contains 677 words and appears in Sunderland Echo newspaper.
