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MP backs calls for A149 cameras
October 1, 2004 12:22
THE battle to improve safety on an eight-mile stretch of the A149 is hotting up with fresh calls for speed cameras.
The Evening News revealed yesterday that the route from Potter Heigham to Smallburgh had claimed 10 lives in the past five years, making it one of the most dangerous sections of road in the county.
While police chiefs and council bosses stress many of the 27 fatal or serious injury accidents along the A149 have been down to driver error, North Norfolk MP Norman Lamb has renewed his calls for speed cameras to help reduce accidents.
He has been thwarted in previous calls for speed traps because there have not been enough accidents to meet Government criteria for the controversial cameras.
But following our special report, Mr Lamb is calling for the Government to relax its rules so fixed cameras can be introduced on the route.
Currently, Norfolk Casualty Reduction Partnership classes the road as a priority route for its mobile speed vans. But Mr Lamb says it is time the A149 had fixed cameras in the hope of addressing poor driving and speeding.
"A lot of people wonder why we have a speed camera on Grapes Hill in Norwich but not on a stretch of road like this where there have been a number of casualties," he said. "I think there needs to be more flexibility in the Government rules to allow greater local discretion."
It is estimated the accidents have cost the taxpayer £2.7 million, given the average cost of a road accident to the emergency services is £100,000. Mr Lamb also said he supported a proposal by Catfield Parish Council to put a roundabout near the Catfield junction to slow traffic. He said drivers had a responsibility to drive carefully, but the road itself could also be to blame.
"There is an issue with a fast stretch of road with a number of junctions along it and the combination of junctions and people turning across the road does create the conditions for accidents to happen."
He said he wanted to see flashing warning signs at the approaches to junctions and some people felt the "Think Bike" signs were not striking enough. He has received scores of letters from constituents asking for more to be done to reduce casualties on the road.
But Paul Smith, of the Safe Speed campaign group, which has consistently challenged the Government to prove speed cameras saved lives, disagreed.
"We cannot find any evidence that speed cameras reduce the death toll on roads anywhere in the country," he said. "We are concentrating too much on speed and not enough on reckless behaviour and poor standards of driving."
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