Sheffield: New cameras to enforce law around yellow box junctions

Cameras are set to be installed at three sites, including Hoyle Street (above)

Cameras to catch drivers breaking rules around box junctions will be installed in three locations in Sheffield.

The city council plans to spend £144,000 on ANPR technology to crack down on motorists stopping within the yellow road markings.

The junctions being targeted are Queens Road and Bramall Lane, Glossop Road and Upper Hanover Street and the box junction on Hoyle Street.

Penalty charges will also be brought in for new bus gates and bus lanes. 

The council is taking advantage of new legal enforcement powers and regulations, a meeting of the waste and street scene policy committee heard on Wednesday.

Sheffield City Council applied to the Department for Transport to take on the police-style powers.

Matthew Reynolds, from the council, said the income generated from fines would be spent on running the scheme and any road issues, not general services.

Councillor Alexi Dimond commented that the rate of accidents resulting in deaths or serious injury is higher in Sheffield than in other core cities.

He said that the government should bring in more powers to deal with issues such as obstructive parking.

Councillor Tim Huggan said a number of people including "university students are in danger of getting run over the whole time by cars that are illegally turning right".

An exemption was in place for drivers who moved into a box junction to allow emergency vehicles to pass.