‘Forced into the road by parked safety vehicle’

A police van used by the Casualty Reduction Partnership is pictured blocking the pavement in Denby Dale. The route towards it is lined with sheltered housing, inset for persons to safely use the pavement on foot, let alone a wheelchair user or other person with a physical impairment.”

He added: “This was compounded by the fact that directly in front of the van was another vehicle, presumably working in company with the van as it was almost nose-to-nose, wholly parked on the pavement.

“This created a situation where a person would have had to walk in the road for a distance in excess of 20ft and travel even further if a wheelchair user as there was no dropped kerb nearby on either side.

“This was also made worse by the fact that there is no footpath on the opposite side of the road.

“So not only would a person be forced to walk in the road, if they were walking in the direction of Scissett they would be doing so with traffic approaching them from behind.”

The West Yorkshire Casualty Reduction Partnership is a partnership between West Yorkshire Police and the five local authorities within West Yorkshire. It monitors the worst casualty hotspots and installs road safety improvement measures such as speed control safety cameras.

Mr Conway pictured two officials beside a camera on the A636 at Denby Dale indicating that it has been the site of at least four accidents causing death or serious injury in the previous five years, or it is considered a long stretch of road with a persistently high accident rate.

The camera is sited close to sheltered housing, which overlooks the road.

Mr Conway added: “It should follow that the Casualty Reduction staff should be aware that this is a particularly hazardous stretch of road and seek at all costs not to add to that danger. Staff should be setting an example, and not displaying a ‘do as we say, not as we do’ attitude.”

Paul Jeffrey, Partnership Manager for the Casualty Reduction Partnership, said: “The camera technicians were completing on-site technical work and in the absence of alternative parking at this location the vehicles were parked so as to minimise any obstruction to the highway.

“Our personnel were present for a short time and would have swiftly taken steps to move the vehicles had there been any pedestrians present.”