Vandalism of new speed camera near Scarborough puts public safety at risk say police

On Monday 30 June, the first fixed speed camera in North Yorkshire was installed as part of a three-month trial to help keep those living in and travelling through Sherburn safer.

The camera was installed with support from York and North Yorkshire Road Safety Partnership, which aims to reduce the number of people killed and seriously injured on the county’s roads.

Both the camera and the lamp post it was based on were deliberately vandalised less than 24 hours later.

Ben Moseley, Assistant Chief Constable of North Yorkshire Police, said: “The purpose of trialling the first fixed speed camera is to reduce the risk of casualties from road traffic collisions.

“The location on the A64 was chosen due to the high volume of speeding offences that were captured by mobile safety vans which, when working in tandem with fixed cameras, can make a significant contribution towards safety by moderating a driver’s speed in the local area.

“In the last six months in this area, 394 vehicles have been captured by mobile vans exceeding the speed limit.

“Safety vans typically capture 11 speeding offences an hour in Sherburn, while the average across the county is five offences an hour.

“We have even had a driver in the same area exceeding 60mph in a 30mph zone at 9.30am.

“The community is being put at risk by irresponsible drivers and the fixed camera is part of a blended enforcement approach, along with safety camera vans, to keep both motorists and pedestrians safe.”

North Yorkshire is one of the only police force areas in England and Wales to not currently have fixed or average camera sites.

Tom Hirst, The Deputy Chair for the York and North Yorkshire Road Safety Partnership, said: “Anything we can do to reduce the number of people killed or seriously injured on our roads will be fully supported by the Road Safety Partnership.

“To make real progress we must consider all aspects of road safety including fixed and average speed cameras especially where we have historic evidence of areas where the speed is being exceeded.”

North Yorkshire Police is continuing to appeal for information about the vandalism to the lamp post and fixed speed camera between 2am and 3am on Tuesday July 1.

Anyone with information about the incident is requested to email [email protected] or call 101 and pass information for incident number 12250119469.