SPEED camera bosses have broken their own ban on new sites in a bid to improve safety on a busy main road.

They have announced that a new speed camera will be fitted in Revidge Road, near the junction of New Bank Road, Blackburn, despite promising a freeze on additional sites for the rest of this year.

A spokesman for the Lancashire Partnership for Road Safety, which runs the county's 340 cameras, said it was "an exceptional case" because of the amount of accidents and speeding motorists on the road.

Residents agree that the area needs a camera - but the family of a paper-girl knocked down on the road feel it is being built in the wrong place.

Teenager Roberta Almond was left seriously injured early one morning in December 2001.

The driver fled the scene so the full facts are not known, but it is believed the car was speeding.

Mrs Anne Almond, Roberta's mother, believes the camera needs to be moved in the Red Rake area, where her daughter was injured.

She added: "It is ridiculous, the speed up there. That is where it all takes place because the road is wider. The speed camera should be moved to nearer Corporation Park.

"We have mentioned it to numerous police people, but nobody seems interested in taking up the issue."

Judy Smith, secretary of the Revidge Residents' Association, said more people had complained from the Red Rake area and added: "Most people want a speed camera there, but a zebra crossing was also mentioned, which would slow traffic down."

The partnership revealed last autumn that the financial year 2003-2004 would mark a period of reflection and analysis to ensure the county's speed camera sites were in the right place.

But the spokesman added: "This camera came from requests from the community. Six people have been killed or seriously injured on the road in the past three years and a traffic survey found that 85 per cent of drivers on the road were exceeding the speed limit."