Police accused of acting like ‘sharks’ by posting speed cameras where they’ll make the most money
Councillors have accused North Yorkshire Police of acting like ‘sharks around a beach’ by positioning speed camera vans where they would generate the most fines.
A meeting also heard claims the force was routinely failing to tackle motorcyclists as well as refusing to enforce 20mph zones.
Road incidents in the county saw 36 people killed in 2020 and 37 the year before, the transport scrutiny committee heard.
Motorcyclists had accounted for seven of the deaths in 2020 and 11 in 2019, which represented a far higher proportion than the volume of motorbikes on North Yorkshire’s roads.
Selby district council leader Mark Crane said: “I really think police need to look more carefully at where accidents are happening.”
The meeting was told as motorcycles did not have a front number plate police found it more difficult to enforce speed limits on riders than cars.
Councillors also heard the council had been examining the decision to make Wales one of the first countries in the world to introduce legislation to have a 20mph speed limit on roads where cars mix with pedestrians and cyclists.
But some councillors said action to tackle road safety in built-up areas of North Yorkshire was being limited due to the executive’s make-up.
The largely older male membership has not experienced the impacts of motorists speeding through market towns and villages.
The ten-member executive features two women and the majority of its members are aged above 50.
Knaresborough councillor Hannah Gostlow told the committee the majority of people supporting the Welsh move had been women and those with young families.
But North Yorkshire’s executive lacked the experience of walking on narrow paths beside busy roads.
Cllr Gostlow said the executive needed to listen to grassroots views rather than “deal down from the top”, adding: “I am worried that the executive do not represent the people who are going to benefit.”
Selby member Melanie Ann Davis agreed, saying the “car was king because it represents economic power” and that the views of women and young people were being overlooked.
The response
After the meeting, the authority’s leader, Councillor Carl Les said he did his best to balance the executive in terms of gender, between retired people and those in work and in terms of geographical coverage.
He said: “I think we are all road users and represent those people in our communities and I wouldn’t say it has any adverse effect on our decisions.”
A North Yorkshire Police spokesperson said its mobile safety cameras were effective when used on any vehicle, including motorbikes.
The force said it had publicised a significant amount of prosecutions involving motorcyclists, including riders who have been recorded exceeding 120mph and riders who have been prosecuted for various dangerous driving offences.
The spokesperson added: “Independent research by Newcastle University has found that North Yorkshire Police’s mobile safety cameras have reduced casualties by 20 per cent in the areas they’ve been deployed to.
“The force decides where to deploy cameras based on lots of different factors around risk and safety. These include data about previous collisions, demand from communities and even the weather.
“We never consider locations based on the revenue they could generate. This is a common misconception, but finances are made publicly available every year. The figures clearly show that some years the service costs slightly more to run than it generates, and other years vice versa.
“Residents frequently raise concerns about speeding in their communities specifically request mobile safety cameras, which we’ve deployed on a wide range of roads including village high streets, outside schools, suburban routes, main roads and rural roads.”