MOTORISTS caught speeding could avoid fixed penalty fines by taking part in a new scheme.

Dorset Police have announced a new driver awareness scheme, which will teach motoring offenders about their responsibilities on the road.

The scheme is part of a move to raise education among road users as an alternative to fines and punishments.

Dorset Police's head of fixed penalties Pat Garrett said: "Our objective is to raise awareness of the dangers of excessive and inappropriate speed among drivers, some of whom may not have read the Highway Code for many years.

"Similar road safety courses have proved remarkably effective in other parts of the country.

"Research has shown that many drivers changed their behaviour as a result of attending a course."

Letters offering places on the scheme will be sent out in the next few weeks to drivers caught by police mobile units or by static speed cameras.

The course, which costs £60, will teach motorists about hazard perception, responsibilities on the road and the consequences of excessive speed and will replace any fines or penalty points once completed.

If a driver commits further offences after finishing the course, which can only be taken once in a three-year period, they will be punished through the normal fines procedure.

Speed cameras across the county came in for criticism after Dorset Police Federation chairman Clive Chamberlain expressed concern that they were not cutting deaths on the road.

He said the £4 million raised by cameras should be spent on other speed reduction methods.

Dorset police assistant chief constable Adrian Whiting said the course would apply to a range of people who had not greatly exceeded the limit and had no previous record of speeding offences within a three-year period.

Mr Whiting said: "We have seen a reduction in casualties at the camera sites but we want more long-term reductions and that will require education as much as enforcement.

"We are saying to people, rather than simply prosecute you before the courts you could have a new option of taking part in the driver awareness scheme."

He added that the scheme was part of an increased focus on reducing driver speed without the use of fines.

Other methods include speed-activated signs, which flash at drivers who break the limit.