Hi-tech methods of catching speeding motorists are a waste of money because most car accidents are caused by drunk driving or texting. Only 3 per cent of car accidents are caused by speeding drivers, U.K, Government figures have revealed.

Yet the U.K. government has been spending a fortune installing nearly 7,000 speed cameras across the country which are unable to detect 'careless or reckless' drivers who cause three times as many accidents.

The statistics today confirmed that deaths on the roads fell last year to the lowest level since records began in 1928, and most of this appears to have happened thanks to a fall in drunk driving offences. These totaled 460 in 2007, an 18 percent drop on the 560 figure in 2006.

Three percent of fatalities resulted from illicit or legal drugs. This was an increase from the figure of 51 deaths in 2006.