POLICE in Burnley have revealed their latest weapon against speeding motorists, a laser gun with a range of more than 1,00O metres.

The gun was put on show at the launch of a national speed campaign, supported by the Pennine police division, which covers the whole of Burnley, Pendle and Rossendale.

Supt Alf Hitchcock said: "We are signing up to a multi-agency campaign, including the council, highways agency etc to work together to try to reduced road casualties. We have done it to coincide with the launch of the latest government campaign to get motorists to reduce their speed.''

Statistics show that 85 per cent of pedestrians hit by a car travelling at 40mph will be killed or serious injured, the figure drops to five per cent at 20mph. Supt Hitchcock added: "What we are doing is a thorough crash pattern analysis of roads across the whole division, when and where accidents happen and why.''

The targeting of roads where crash occurrences are high is a major factor in the reduction of accidents.

In 1998 crashes on targeted roads were reduced by four per cent in Rossendale, 17 per cent in Burnley and 27 per cent in Pendle, achieved by road safety campaigns, road engineering and speed enforcement.

During the campaign, extra attention will be given to the targeted roads. Leaflets will be distributed to motorists linking in with television and radio promotions.

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