CAMERAS on one of East Lancashire's most dangerous highways have detected a 'staggering' 26,000 speeding motorists since they went live in November.

A new appeal for drivers to slow down on the Grane Road between Blackburn and the M66 to Bury and Manchester has been issued along with a warning of continuing stiff enforcement of the speed limits.

Average speed cameras went live on the B6232 Grane Road between Belthorn and Haslingden on November 6

There are three limits - 40mph at the Blackburn end; 30mph at the Haslingden/A56 end and 50mph on the middle section.

In the first three months of operation the cameras caught 9,921 speeders.

Yesterday the Lancashire Road Safety Partnership revealed that figure had risen to more than 26,000 - meaning 16,000 more vehicles breaking the speed limit had been trapped in six months..

Blackburn with Darwen highways boss Phil Riley said: "This is a staggering and shocking figure.

"The Grane Road is widely seen as a dangerous road but these figures show that is because of the speed people drive at. Motorists must slow down."

Cllr David Stansfield, who represents Helmshore, said: "This is staggering figure for speeding on a very dangerous road.

"Drivers need to slow down or receive points on their licence and a fine or worse still suffer or cause serious injury or death.

"I just don't understand why motorists hammer their speed on this road."

Road safety partnership coordinator Rhiannon Leeds said: “The Grane Road is a notoriously dangerous route. Ultimately our aim is to make Lancashire’s roads safer and average speed cameras are proven to reduce the numbers killed or seriously injured.

“We're still detecting far too many speeders over Grane Road. We would appeal to drivers: ‘Please slow down’.Offenders will be dealt with. "

She said the number of drivers speeding was much higher than on similar routes, adding that since June 2017 only 3,000 vehicles were detected by cameras exceeding the speed limit on the A675 Belmont Road

The road safety partnership has updated signage along the Grane Road and taken to social media to plead with drivers to read the signs and watch their speed.