Installation of permanent speed cameras on ‘race track’ A647 Bradford Road in Pudsey have moved a step closer to reality.
Leeds City Council has agreed to take forward proposals that will ask the West Yorkshire Speed Reduction Partnership to review their criteria for fixed speed cameras.
West Leeds Dispatch has regularly featured concerns about ‘boy racers’ making the stretch of road between Dawsons Corner and Thornbury Roundabout dangerous, with local residents also complaining about the noise.
Calverley & Farsley councillors Andrew and Amanda Carter (Cons) have welcomed highways officers asking the West Yorkshire Speed Reduction Partnership to review their criteria for fixed speed cameras. They hope it will lead to them being installed on the A647 Bradford Road.
The councillors have been complaining about the problems ever since the roundabout was removed at its junction with Woodhall Lane and Galloway Lane and was replaced with traffic lights.
Councillor Andrew Carter said:
“If the West Yorkshire Speed Reduction Partnership agree to this, it could mean that we can finally get the permanent speed cameras installed that we have been crying out for over the years. We believe it is the only way to stamp out the increasingly dangerous speeding and reckless driving that occurs on this stretch of road.
“These actions are long overdue, but at least we are now beginning to make progress.”
Councillor Amanda Carter added that the situation ‘has to be brought to a conclusion’. She added:
“Hopefully we are now seeing some light at the end of the long tunnel.”
A Leeds City Council spokesperson said the authority recognised concerns about speeding traffic on Bradford Road. They added:
“There have been requests for speed cameras here in the past from councillors all along the corridor and the Member of Parliament for Leeds West and officers have reviewed these at length in line with the criteria established by the West Yorkshire Casualty Prevention Partnership, who control and operate the fixed and mobile camera enforcement across the five local authorities in the county.”
As an additional measure, police have agreed to expand their use of mobile speed cameras on the A647 to include night-time operations.