Leeds speed cameras: Police launch 'major crackdown' on speeding after over 5,000 injured in crashes

Speeding motorists across West Yorkshire are being warned they should expect to be caught as changes are made to how safety cameras are used.

65 people died and over 5,000 people were injured in collisions on the roads of West Yorkshire last year, with excessive or inappropriate speed being one of the most common factors in fatal and serious injury collisions.

The head of the police’s casualty prevention unit, Paul Jeffrey, said he was prepared for a “social media backlash” over the crackdown, but that West Yorkshire’s “speeding problem” meant action was necessary.

Speaker at a cross-party meeting of councillors at Farnley last Wednesday, Mr Jeffrey said the fact 65 people died on West Yorkshire’s roads last year was “unacceptable”.

He said: “A significant proportion of those were entirely preventable. People have a choice whether they go fast or slow. 30 miles per hour is not appropriate in poor weather conditions, for example.

“What’s happening increasingly in West Yorkshire is camera surfing, where people know where a fixed camera is likely to be so they slow down for it, then immediately speed up afterwards. Our new strategy will address that. What we’re aiming for is predictable unpredictability, so people in West Yorkshire can expect speed enforcement anywhere, on any of our roads.”

Under new arrangements, safety cameras will continue to be deployed to evidenced ‘high risk’ sites with a history of fatal or serious injury collisions, but in addition, cameras may also be utilised at community concern sites where there is clear evidence of emerging risk due to excessive speed, representing a more proactive approach.

Safety cameras may also be deployed during periods of roadworks to protect the workforce and other road users, or potentially following the opening of a new road where no speed or collision data exists.

Under the new strategy, some sites of concern may be enforced without speed camera warning signage being present with the aim to encourage safe speeds across the network and not simply in the vicinity of established enforcement locations.

As part of the crackdown speed cameras are to be put on parts of the A647 ring road in west Leeds, following repeated calls for action from local councillors.

Conservative councillor Amanda Carter said: “The racing on the ring road and the A647 – not just by ordinary cars, but by high-powered cars and Lamborghinis – at two o’clock in the morning, is absolutely disgraceful. We need to do something about it.”

As part of the launch of these new changes, a video has been filmed with Ian Greenwood, whose 12-year-old daughter Alice died because of a speeding driver.

Ian said: “People say to me, road crashes are inevitable and there’s nothing we can do to stop them. I tell them they are wrong, and this is a great example of what can be done.

“Most people are law abiding, but my message is to those who take an unnecessary risk and don’t think about the consequences. The result of the speeding driver was a dead 12-year-old with a broken neck, and he also managed to kill himself and his passenger. If the driver who caused Alice’s death had done so, she would still be with us.”