New speed cameras to detect people breaking 20mph limits could be brought in if a proposal in a new Government advisory body report is adopted.
Local authorities are keen to introduce the cameras, which measure a driver's speed over a certain distance, the report from the Parliamentary Advisory Council for Transport Safety (Pacts) said.
Such time-over-distance devices need Home Office approval and priority should be given to get an early OK for them, Pacts' report added.
The report, entitled Beyond 2010 - a holistic approach to road safety in Great Britain, also argued for more 20mph zones in built-up areas and the setting of a target to reduce deaths on the roads to half the present level over the next decade.
Annual road deaths are currently around the 3,200 mark, having come down considerably from the highs of more than 7,000 a year in the 1960s thanks to a number of factors including seatbelts, improved car design, the breathalyser and traffic-calming measures.
The Government has a target of reducing deaths and serious injuries on the roads by 40% by 2010 compared with the average figure for the mid-1990s.
Pacts' executive director Robert Gifford said: "This report represents an important attempt to link road safety to other aspects of public policy.
"Improving road safety is not an academic exercise. Deaths on our roads are preventable occurrences where society could and should do more to prevent them. This report outlines the context which will need to be taken into account beyond 2010 when the Government begins to consider its options.
"Every year, the inhabitants of a town the size of Nottingham or Belfast are killed or injured on our roads. This report highlights the actions that need to be taken to reduce this level of death and injury."
