Income from speed cameras in Surrey appears to have dropped dramatically as drivers wise up to the speed limits.

The number of offences on the A3 bypass outside Tolworth dropped from 86 a day in 2005 to 10 a day in 2009, according to average figures released to the Elmbridge Guardian.

Based on an estimate of £60 per ticket, the camera could have been raking in as much as £1.8m a year in 2005, although Surrey Safety Camera Partnership said not all the cameras in the borough were in use every day. Fines are also reduced if paid in good time.

The camera on the A309 Kingston bypass in Manor Road dropped from 7 a day to 2.6 a day over the same period.

But cameras in Copsem Lane, Esher, and Portsmouth Road, Thames Ditton, were still catching 5.5 and 6.5 drivers a day respectively.

The information was released under Freedom of Information laws but the partnership declined to reveal information for the past two years.

A spokesman said not all the offences led to fines and the partnership said the money went straight to the Treasury, rather than into its coffers.

The partnership said it was planning to release the actual amounts, camera by camera, in September.

In 2006, the partnership said revealing information about how many offences were being caught by cameras could expose the most successful ones to vandalism.