A police commissioner has unveiled plans to enlist academics to help tackle speeding across England’s largest county.
Philip Allott, North Yorkshire Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner, said he aimed to enable the force to deal decisively with safety on rural roads and in villages. But with more than 6,000 miles of roads and 800 villages to cover, demand for enforcement was outstripping police resources.
Mr Allott said universities had been invited to tender to review how speed limits are enforced in the county and he was hopeful work to come up with alternatives would shortly get underway.
He was speaking to North Yorkshire County Council’s Richmondshire constituency committee following years of controversy surrounding North Yorkshire Police’s speed camera vans.
While fixed speed cameras have repeatedly been deemed an unsuitable solution for the largely rural county, the force has insisted the vans are used to deter speeding at sites of accidents.
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Julia Mulligan, Mr Allott’s predecessor, frequently defended the use of the vans and denied they were a revenue generator.
Last year she tweeted:
“Any cash raised is spent on road safety, but they are largely self-funding, and certainly not ‘cash cows’. We also have clear evidence of behaviour change and lives saved.”
Nevertheless, motorists, including former police traffic officers and a number of leading councillors, believe the vans have frequently been sent to sites, such as bridges over motorways or dual carriageway laybys, in a bid to maximise numbers of fines.
Just 35 traffic officers
After being elected Mr Allott said there were “big concerns” over the vans, which were introduced in 2011.
He told the constituency committee while speeding was a prominent issue for residents, the force had just 35 traffic officers to oversee enforcement.
Mr Allott said:
“The issue for us is that for the safety camera vans there are 750 sites for 12 vans plus two motorcycle units, and they can’t possibly go to every location.”
Mr Allott said he wanted elected community representatives to be able to direct police towards the areas of greatest concern.
He said:
“What I would like to move towards is a position where if you say ‘I want the camera van to go out here or there’, you can have that as a councillor three times a year.”
Referring to calls for 20mph zones in some built-up areas, he said neither the camera vans nor hand-held speed guns were calibrated as low as 20mph.
He added:
“If you are a councillor and wanting a lower speed limit, I as commissioner will support it. There are some challenges and you can see why I want an academic institute to look at this.”
