Number of speed camera vans to double to tackle road deaths

THE number of speed camera vans will double on North Yorkshire’s roads in a bid to crack down on “dangerous and anti-social behaviour”.

The three vans, which have detected over 58,000 offences since being introduced last year, will expand to six by next spring. They will be located at blackspots and in response to residents where speeding is a proven problem.

It follows a survey in May in which three-quarters of respondents thought more should be done to tackle road safety. In 2012 police dealt with 46 fatal collisions in which 51 people died, of which 16 were motorcyclists.

The plans, approved yesterday, include:

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n Developing a scheme to give residents an active role in tackling speeding and anti-social road use.

n More training and education to change attitudes.

n A better “back-office” to handle road safety administration more efficiently.

Police and Crime Commissioner Julia Mulligan said it showed they were taking the “vast majority’s concerns seriously”.

Deputy Chief Constable Tim Madgwick said extra camera vans wouldn’t solve the problem alone.

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He said: “Many road-users don’t think of themselves as “anti-social”, so they continue to take risks until they are involved in a collision, and tragically we have seen a number of serious incidents recently where people have lost their lives. We will also be doing more training and education, to help all road-users to realise that unless we all share the responsibility for keeping roads safe, we will all continue to share in the risks.”

Meanwhile, a report by the Institute of Advanced Motorists has singled out Rotherham as one of the worst performing local authorities in the country in terms of numbers killed or seriously injured on the roads. It saw an increase of 27 serious or fatal casualties last year. The worst performer was Lancashire where 642 people were killed or seriously injured, an increase of 72, on 2012.