The 50km speed camera in Attard is by far the most effective on the island, flashing more than 12,000 times in the past 12 months.

A breakdown of the fines issued from the 21 speed cameras across 13 localities (none of which are in Gozo), shows nearly 80,000 citations were issued after motorists were photographed speeding past one of the cameras – more than 200 motorists every day.

The information was tabled in Parliament by Transport Minister Ian Borg in reply to a question by Opposition MP Hermann Schiavone last week.

One motorist reached speeds of nearly 170kph

The two cameras on opposite sides of the Birkirkara bypass combined issued roughly just as many tickets as the one in Attard.

Two cameras on either side of the Mrieħel bypass snapped just 606 motorists between them, less than one ticket from each camera every day.

Back in 2014, this newspaper reported how speed camera contraventions had totalled 15,242, 80 per cent less than those issued over the past 12 months.

Even back then, the most effective camera was the one in Attard. The camera was behind 6,115 contraventions, roughly half the number of speeding fines issued over the past year.

Last year, one motorist reached speeds of nearly 170 kilometres per hour on the St Paul’s Bay bypass. According to the Local Enforcement Systems Agency, the highest speed recorded on the island was on the St Paul’s Bay road and was nearly 100 kilometres above the bypass’s maximum speed limit of 80 kph.

The excessive speed was 10 kilometres per hour higher than that recorded on the same road last year.

According to the figures tabled in Parliament, the cameras on the St Paul’s Bay bypass have flashed more than 4,000 times over the last 12 months.