A DOZEN danger roads in Burnley, Pendle and Rossendale are to be targeted in a police plan to reduce accidents.

Nine people were killed in road accidents in the Pennine Division last year and another 193 suffered serious injury, plus a further 1,187 with slight injuries.

In a campaign to curb the number of accidents, the Road Safety Unit plans to target speeding motorists, drink-driving and seat belt-wearing.

Twelve roads with the highest accident rate will also be targeted.

In Pendle, they are the A6068 Vivary Way/North Valley Road/Windsor Street/Byron Road, Colne; A682 Manchester Road/Colne Road/Burnley Road, in Nelson and Brierfield; A56 Skipton Road/Albert Road/Burnley Road/Leeds Road, Foulridge-Nelson and the A682 Scotland Road/Gisburn Road at Nelson and Barrowford.

In Burnley, the accident hot spots are the A682 Colne Road/Church Street; A671 Cavalry Way/Padiham Road/Burnley Road; A671/A6114 Todmorden Road/Belvedere Road/Queen Victoria Road/Eastern Avenue and the A671 Yorkshire Street/Brunshaw Road/Red Lees Road. In Rossendale, special attention will be paid to the A682 St Mary's Way/Burnley Road, Rawtenstall-Crawshawbooth; A681 Bacup Road, Rawtenstall, Waterfoot and Bacup; A680 Blackburn Road/Manchester Road, Haslingden and the A671 Rochdale Road/Market Street, Whitworth.

Supt Alfred Hitchcock, operations manager for the division, said that although those were the roads where most road safety activity was concentrated, it did not mean that other roads would not be subject to similar enforcement.

The clear evidence was that killing speed saved lives, that drinking and driving was still a major cause of road deaths and injuries and that seat belt-wearing, which had resulted in a dramatic reduction in casualties, has started to decline.

A stop-check enforcement exercise in Rossendale on one evening last week resulted in 35 fixed penalty tickets being issued.

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