West Yorkshire Police to add speed cameras without warning signs

Some speed cameras in West Yorkshire will be installed without signs warning drivers

Motorists in West Yorkshire will no longer be warned about the location of all speed cameras under police plans to crack down on dangerous driving.

New cameras will also be installed at sites of "community concern" under a "more proactive" West Yorkshire Police strategy.

The force said it wanted to tackle speeding at problem areas before serious collisions occurred.

Sixty-five people were killed on the region's roads in 2022, police said.

Previously, speed cameras were deployed mainly at locations with a history of serious collisions and were always signposted to drivers as they approached.

West Yorkshire Police said it would now install cameras at sites "where there is clear evidence of emerging risk due to excessive speed" in a bid to curb speeding before crashes happen.

"Some sites of concern may be enforced without signage" to encourage safer driving across the road network, the force added.

Ian Greenwood, whose 12-year-old daughter Alice died in a crash caused by a speeding driver in 2008, welcomed the changes.

"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," he said.

Alice Greenwood was killed in a car crash caused by a speeding driver

Two teenagers were also killed when their car veered across the A52 in Derbyshire and crashed into the VW Passat in which Alice, from Pontefract, was travelling with her mother and sister.

Mr Greenwood said the "death and carnage" had been the "totally avoidable" consequence of speeding.

"I was asked to identify my dead 12-year-old daughter that night, and it's just wrong," he told BBC Radio Leeds.

"Life is never the same again after something like this, I wouldn't wish it on anybody."

'One death too many'

Paul Jeffrey, head of West Yorkshire Police's casualty prevention unit, said: "Over recent years I believe there has been a change in public opinion around issues such as drink driving and seatbelt use, but unfortunately some people still have a mindset that it is OK to speed.

"The reality is that every day our officers and the NHS see the devastating impact of people driving at excessive and inappropriate speeds. These changes will ensure that safety cameras are used more effectively to encourage safe driver behaviour, prevent crashes and save lives."

Alison Lowe, West Yorkshire's Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime, said: "The mayor and I fully support this approach as one death on our roads is one death too many."