Three permanent speed cameras on major routes around Ipswich have caught thousands of motorists.
Figures from the Norfolk and Suffolk Safety Camera Partnership reveal the number of offences recorded on the A12 between East Bergholt and Stratford St Mary, at Martlesham and on the A14 Orwell Bridge.
The cameras have processed 87,729 speeding offences on the A12 between East Bergholt and Stratford St Mary since August 2015.
Previously published figures show 26,694 offences on the Orwell Bridge between July 2016 and July 2026.
The newer Martlesham camera has already recorded thousands since it was switched on in September 2024.
The latest spreadsheet records 3,150 offences from September 2024 to September 2026: 482 in 2024, 1,582 in 2025 and 1,086 in the available 2026 figures.
Average speed cameras on the A12 between East Bergholt and Stratford St Mary Picture: GREGG BROWN
Which speed cameras have caught the most drivers?
One site is the clear lifetime leader.
The average-speed cameras between East Bergholt and Stratford St Mary have processed 87,729 offences—more than three times the Orwell Bridge total and far ahead of Martlesham.
But the comparison needs a major caveat.
The three systems have been operating for different lengths of time.
The East Bergholt cameras began operating in August 2015, the Orwell Bridge cameras in July 2016 and the Martlesham camera in September 2024.
The cameras were installed as part of the work to the road in Martlesham (Image: Google maps)
What has happened since the Martlesham camera arrived?
The latest comparable period, from January 2025 to September 2026, shows how differently the three sites are performing.
The A12 cameras between East Bergholt and Stratford St Mary recorded 12,443 offences in 2025 and 8,675 more through September 2026.
That is 21,118 offences since January 2025.
Martlesham recorded 1,582 offences in 2025 and 1,086 more through September 2026, giving 2,668 over the period.
The cameras were installed as part of the work to the road in Martlesham (Image: Google maps)
The contrast with the Orwell Bridge is striking.
The Orwell Bridge recorded just 276 offences in 2025 and 835 more through September 2026—1,111 across the 21-month period.
The East Bergholt to Stratford St Mary cameras recorded almost eight times as many offences as Martlesham and around 19 times as many as the Orwell Bridge.
The spreadsheet gives no monthly breakdown for late 2024 at the two older sites, so these figures cannot provide an exact like-for-like comparison with Martlesham’s September 2024 launch.
The Orwell Bridge (Image: Gregg Brown)
Orwell Bridge figures have fallen sharply
The sharpest change is on the Orwell Bridge.
The system recorded 6,146 offences in 2016, despite launching in July that year.
The total fell to just 276 in 2025.
The total rose again in 2026, with 835 offences recorded through September: 441 eastbound and 394 westbound.
Speed camers on the A12 (Image: Google maps)
What do the figures tell us?
Lifetime totals do not tell the whole story.
The East Bergholt to Stratford St Mary cameras lead both historically and in the latest figures, while Martlesham has quickly overtaken the Orwell Bridge in recent detections.
The two long-running average-speed sites also show signs of improved safety.
Average injury collisions on the East Bergholt to Stratford St Mary stretch fell from 11.5 a year before the cameras to 3.2 afterwards.
On the Orwell Bridge, they dropped from 7.4 to 2.4.
Martlesham’s system is too new for the spreadsheet to include a comparable before-and-after injury-collision figure.
Thousands of motorists are still being caught, particularly on the A12 south of Ipswich, but the longer-term figures suggest the cameras coincide with sizeable reductions in injury collisions at the two established average-speed sites.
In September 2026, the A12 site recorded 639 offences, compared with 87 at Martlesham and 59 on the Orwell Bridge.
More than 1,700 drivers caught at Martlesham have completed retraining courses, adding a further consequence beyond the recorded speeding offences.
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