This in tonight's Evening Post

The number of speed camera sites on roads across Lancashire is set to soar, the Evening Post can reveal today.

Despite several areas across the country cutting the controversial devices, the number of mobile camera sites across Lancashire will increase in the next 12 months.

And unlike existing sites, the new locations will not provide drivers with a warning sign telling them that the cameras are there. The Lancashire Roadwatch project will see huge stretches of road designated as mobile camera sites, instead of specific spots.

Warning signs, which are currently put in place when mobile cameras are being used, will be scrapped, to provide a “more flexible and prompt response to residents’ concerns about speeding”. However, vans will still be marked with camera partnership livery.

The expansion will not cost any more because existing cameras and resources will be used, paid for by the annual £1.3m budget for speed cameras, council chiefs say.

But the move was today branded “appalling” by driving campaigners.

Brian MacDowall, of the Association of British Drivers, said: “We are appalled by the response of Lancashire camera partnership. We can only summise that if they are going down this route it is only being done for the purposes of raising revenue now that there is no central Government funding for raising cameras.

“The warning signs are in the guidelines. They are not a legal requirement but surely fair warning should be given to all drivers.

“The Government has declared that the war on motorists will be ended. Clearly Lancashire County Council thinks otherwise.”

But County Coun Geoff Driver, leader of Lancashire County Council, said: “It is not a war on motorists, but it is a war on those motorists who break the speed limit.”

Mark Hendrick, MP for Preston, said: “This looks to me like an exercise in revenue raising.

“I’m against the cuts to police, I think the Government has gone too far, too fast, but rather than have officers sat in vehicles trying to catch out speeding motorists I would rather see more bobbies on the beat in inner-city areas like Preston, catching thieves and dealing with anti-social behaviour.

“It is escalating (the war on motorists).”

The scheme started in Lancaster and Wyre this month. It saw the introduction of 13 new mobile camera sites.

The scheme will be rolled out to South Ribble early next year, followed by east Lancashire and then all other areas throughout 2012.

If the same number of new sites was extended to all 12 county council areas, Lancashire could soon have another 78 speed camera sites.

Huge swathes of roads, as opposed to specific sites, are being included in the scheme. For example, in Lancaster the “entire length” of the A6 through Lancaster district is counted as one location.

There are currently more than 50 mobile camera locations and scores more ‘sites of community concern’ where cameras can be used. There are also 290 fixed camera sites.

Since 2001, well over half a million speeding tickets have been handed out to motorists the county.

Meanwhile the number of dedicated traffic police officers has fallen, from 220 in 2001/2 to around 180 now, although police have always stressed all officers can carry out traffic-related duties.

Controversy over the cameras was re-ignited earlier this year when Lancashire County Council and Lancashire Police released statistics about every fixed camera in the country. While accidents at many sites had fallen, some saw the number of crashes increase since they were installed.

Last October, the Coalition Government announced that it would not pay for the introduction of new cameras as it ended Labour’s “war on the motorist”.

A spokesman for Lancashire County Council said the new approach was more “focused”: “RoadWatch is considered necessary to continue the success that has already been achieved in Lancashire in reducing the numbers of people killed and seriously injured on our roads (from 1024 in 2005 to 681 in 2010).”

Lancashire Police’s Assistant Chief Constable Andy Rhodes said: “Priority will still be given to roads where injuries have occurred in the last five years but it will also enable enforcement on other roads where there is evidence that speeding is an issue, allowing us to be proactive in our approach and take action where speeding is a concern.”


Link here http://www.lep.co.uk/community/local_servi...eiled_1_3902450 but it may vanish in a couple of weeks