Road campaigner slams police '˜cash cow' mobile speed camera

Chris Johnson believes there is no justification whatsoever in placing a camera on Westway, the dual carriage which leads up to Gannow roundabout.

However, Lancashire Constabulary says enforcement is necessary as casualty data recorded from the road show it to be one of the most dangerous in the area.

A Freedom of Information request made by Mr Johnson to Lancashire Constabulary revealed that, since the beginning of 2013, there have been 14 road traffic collisions reported there.

Mr Johnson said: “That isn’t a lot of accidents really and the figures don’t even show how minor or serious these collisions were.

“It appears the cash cow known as ‘Princess Way’ has run its course after raising in excess of £800,000 and they are focussing their attention on somewhere else. We now have nice new flashing speed limit signs on Princess Way and as the outbound carriageway has now been reduced to one lane the potential entrapment has been halved.

“To make matters worse, the mobile camera unit on Westway is being parked up on a small side road and until a driver has passed it on the uphill outbound section the unit is not even visible. This is yet again a clear case of entrapment and cash for cameras.”

Lancashire Constabulary was quick to point out though it has been enforcing this stretch of road since 2013. “The site itself is part of Lancashire RoadWatch,” said a spokesman. “Lancashire RoadWatch was introduced by the Lancashire Partnership for Road Safety in September 2011. Local authorities identified the worst roads (approximately six roads per district) in our county based on casualty data. “Our mobile technicians are tasked to enforce at any point along the length of these routes so long as it is safe to do so.

“Each site is then graded red/amber/green – red being the highest recorded speeds – in accordance with the speed count data obtained by the local authorities, with those sites having the highest recorded speeds receiving the most enforcement, ie. to ensure proportionate enforcement is allocated along the route.

“The A671 Westway at Burnley has been graded red and as such, receives more enforcement then green sites along the same route. We have been carrying out regular enforcement here since July 2013.”