‘Danger’ roads in county to get new speed cameras
AVERAGE speed cameras are due to be introduced on a major West Lancashire Road as part of a £7.9m road safety scheme.
More than £1m will be spent to make the A581 between Rufford and Euxton safer by adding average speed cameras, improving road markings, extending the 30mph zone at the village of Ulnes Walton and adding miniroundabouts at four junctions.
The changes come after Lancashire County Council received funding from a Department for Transport fund to improve the safety on five routes that the Safer Roads Foundation had identified as being dangerous.
Other sites across the county include to the north in Lancaster and in the eastern part of the county on the A682 from Barrowford to Long Preston.
Average speed cameras work by measuring measuring speed across long spans of road rather than over short spaces, meaning drivers cannot simply slow down for the camera and then speed up again.
Similar cameras were installed along the Tarleton bypass last year.
The county council’s cabinet agreed to commit the funding received from the Department for Transport to the highways and transport capital programme to allow work to begin to design the schemes and plan how they will be delivered.
Lancashire County Councillor Keith Iddon, cabinet member for highways and transport, said: “Every death and serious injury on our roads is a tragedy for the people involved, and has an awful impact on their friends and family.
“These schemes should make a big difference by improving safety on those roads.’’
Cllr Iddon continued: “We were invited by the Department for Transport to put forward proposals for how best to make these routes safer, and I’m very pleased that we’ve received £7.9m to make these plans a reality.”
Work will now take place to produce a schedule for the schemes to be delivered over the next three to four years.