Quote:
M-bike camera joins bid to stop speedersA motorbike-mounted speed camera has joined the fleet of vans already monitoring West Norfolk's roads for speeding motorists.
It is the first of its kind to be used in East Anglia and will be sent to 20 hotspots around the county where the five existing vans are unable to safely park.
Due to their smaller size, the bikes will be able to park in gateways and areas where there is not enough room to put a van.
Hotspots include Dersingham, Lynn, and Grimston, which have been chosen due to a high number of accidents in these areas.
The new vehicle was launched on Tuesday and will be used by the Norfolk Casualty Reduction Partnership.
Partnership spokesman Mr Bryan Edwards said: "This will allow us to continue our job of reducing casualties. We can build on the 50 per cent reduction in accidents we've seen since we started operating.
"The bike will not be used as a mobile camera, it will only be used when it is stationary."
Bikes are designed to be highly-visible and the cameras will operate in exactly the same way of those used in vans. Information on when the vehicles are going to be in use is made available to the public.
The areas chosen by the partnership tend to have a three-year history of speed-related accidents.
Around 6,000 miles of road are covered by the partnership in the county. It also has 18 fixed speed camera posts but there are only five cameras so they have to be alternated between them.
The speed camera bike is a Honda Deauville, which was chosen because it is very steady and easy to base the camera on.
Norfolk Constabulary chief constable Mrs Carole Howlett welcomed the new motorbike and said: "I welcome any initiative which reduces the casualties on our roads."
21 June 2005
50% reduction...blimey, and I thought deaths had gone up. Silly me..
