A SPEED camera in the back of a van is being considered for an accident blackspot.

The mobile camera will be the first of its kind to be used in the area if councillors choose to go ahead with the scheme along Buncer Lane between Preston Old Road and Billinge Avenue, Blackburn.

Councillors have been concerned for several years about the number of accidents in the area.

Between 1986 and 1991 there were two deaths among the 35 injury accidents recorded.

After traffic calming measures were introduced there was a 63 per cent reduction in the number of accidents, but problems remain at a high level compared to other roads in Blackburn and Darwen.

Highways chiefs are now recommending that a further package of traffic calming measures should be implemented.

They are also urging councillors to approve a scheme to buy a mobile camera which could be placed anywhere along the length of the road. Once drivers have curbed their speed, the mobile speed camera will be used at other sites in the borough.

A report to the highways and transport committee says the use of similar equipment elsewhere in the country has been successful.

It adds: "Camera technology has advanced since the introduction of the fixed camera sites. The equipment consists of a laser speed measuring device, a video which records offenders and can produce photographic evidence, batteries and a printer.

"The equipment can be positioned on a tripod at the side of the carriageway or within a parked van.

"The possibility of being prosecuted for speeding along a road has been shown to change driving behaviour and reduce overall traffic speeds.

"This change in behaviour is not only felt on the road which is being policed but also on roads further away."

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