Average speed cameras are to be installed on one of East Lancs’ most dangerous roads

The road has gained notoriety among motorists after claiming a number of lives over the years.

Lancashire County Council said £449,000 will be spent on improving road safety and will include average speed cameras over five miles of the route, solar-powered road studs to highlight the center line and rumble strips to highlight the roadside over eight miles of the road.

The average speed cameras are part of a £7.9million investment to reduce casualties on routes identified by the Department for Transport as the county’s most historically dangerous A roads.

A number of works have already been carried out in recent years to improve safety on the five routes, upgrading them with features such as LED cat’s eyes, highly reflective road markings and safety barriers.

The A682 is not the only Lancashire dangerous road to benefit from the Safer Road Fund’s investment.

Work started this week to install the cameras on the A581 from Rufford to Euxton, followed by the A588 from Lancaster to Skippool in November.

The cameras will be installed on the A683 in Lancaster from junction 34 of the M6 ​​to Kirkby Lonsdale early next year, followed by the A6 in Lancaster between the city center and junction J33 of the M6 ​​towards the end of February.

Some traffic management will be required for the safety of roadside workers whilst the cameras are being installed and when work follows to connect them to power this will be carefully managed to minimize disruption.

Average speed cameras read the license plates of passing vehicles and calculate a driver’s average speed over a known length of road within the same speed limit.

This results in drivers maintaining a constant average speed rather than just slowing down when seeing a traditional fixed or spot speed camera, resulting in safer and smoother traffic flows.

Once installed, the cameras will require a testing period before they can be operational and used by police to enforce speed limits.

Jenoptik’s SPECS average speed camera monitoring systems, which were installed in 2017 and 2018, already cover eight routes in Lancashire.

Initial evaluations show that accidents on these routes have fallen by up to 86 percent. Jenoptik has also been awarded the contract to install this next phase of average speed cameras.

Charlie Edwards, Lancashire County Council’s Cabinet Member for Motorways and Transport, said: “The technological advances represented by average speed cameras mean we are now able to significantly increase safety on many miles of Lancashire’s historically most dangerous roads to enhance.

“These are routes that rely on good driver judgment, are mainly rural in nature and have features such as tight corners and junctions, where a history of serious incidents has generally accumulated over the years.

“As has been shown elsewhere, the average speed cameras should be a real game changer in reducing the number and severity of incidents and ensuring that everyone using these roads is safer, and the communities that live next to them can also start to feel more secure.”

Andrew Pratt MBE, Deputy PCC and Chairman of the Lancashire Road Safety Partnership, added: “Targeting dangerous drivers is a policing priority across Lancashire and evidence shows that speeding is a major contributor to road fatalities and serious collisions, with careless drivers risk their own lives and the lives of others.

“This investment is the result of extensive analysis by the Lancashire Road Safety Partnership and follows close collaboration with local MPs, councilors and councillors, all of whom have expressed their concerns on behalf of local residents and communities.”

Supt Mark Morley, of Lancashire Police Police Tactical Operations, said: “The introduction of average speed cameras across the county has been very successful and has helped reduce serious injuries and fatal collisions.

“This latest investment is our next step in increasing traffic safety for all motorists and pedestrians.

“We will continue our efforts to reduce collisions resulting in death or serious injury and I am confident that using this type of enforcement will play a crucial role in achieving those reductions.”

Jenoptik UK Deputy Managing Director Geoff Collins added: “It is very gratifying to be working once again with Lancashire to provide a further five new average speed camera routes. We look forward to helping reduce risk and improve safety for road users and residents.”

The speed limit is to be reduced on some sections of the five routes after a public consultation was held earlier this year and the proposals were approved by Lancashire County Council’s cabinet in September 2022.