Hi-tech means high success in war against the speeders

The number of traffic accidents in June was down by more than half on the same period last year: there were 47 crashes with 41 slight injuries and no fatalities.

And fewer accidents mean police have more time to tackle drivers who flout the law and so help make the borough's roads among the safest in Greater Manchester.

During the last month, 39 motorists were arrested for drink-driving, up 18 on June last year, while 556 drivers were given fixed penalties tickets for speeding. A total of 244 were captured on speed cameras while a further 95 drivers were filmed shooting through red lights.

"Thanks to the borough's traffic calming measures and a more responsible approach to driving by the public, in all weather conditions, we have seen a significant decrease in road traffic accidents and have again enjoyed a fatal free month," said Sgt. Martin Greenwood of Bury Traffic Unit.

"A large number of roads in the borough feature a wide variety of traffic calming measures which have helped to reduce car speeds and give people more time to react in emergency situations."

But as the June figures reveal, there are still too many drivers in a hurry who are prepared to put lives at risk by breaking speed limits. Now the police have turned to the latest technology to help put the brake on the speeders.

Cameras - both static and mobile - radar and now infra red lasers are among the arsenal of gadgets deployed by officers to catch speeders.

Today's traffic officers have a wide selection of crime-busting "toys" that can measure time, distance and speed at the flick of a trigger.

"As a traffic police officer, the amount of equipment available to help capture speeders in the act is vast and technical," said Sgt. Greenwood. "The information the cameras and radar systems record is very accurate and those captured by them have no defence. The camera, radar and lasers never lie!" One system used is the Gatso cameras which are sighted around the borough at major road junctions and on dual-carriageways. The cameras are set at the regulated speed limit for each individual road and any car exceeding its setting is photographed. The £40 mandatory fine soon follows in the post and the offender's driving licence is endorsed with three penalty points. The latest speed-busting measure adopted by the police is the Laser Scope. Costing £6,000 a time, the Laser Scope is accurate over one kilometre and takes three readings of a vehicle's speed in less than a second.

Sgt. Greenwood explained: "The system is similar to the radar gun although it fires an infra red laser beam instead of radio waves at the car. It is very accurate over a great distance and can isolate a speeding car even if its is partially obscured by other traffic.

"In many cases speeding motorists, on seeing a police officer ahead, begin to slow down and then shoot off when out of sight. With the Laser Scope we can target a suspect speeder a mile away. There is no escape and the motorist will pay the penalty."

According to Sgt. Greenwood a motorist with a clean driving licence could travel around Bury for only a few hours and, if preferring to break the speed laws, could return home to find him or herself banned from driving.

"Drivers are allowed to accrue twelve penalty points on their licence before they are automatically summoned before the courts to face a discretionary disqualification by the magistrates," said Sgt Greenwood.

"In Bury we have the facilities to capture a majority of speeding offences whether an officer is present or not.

"The recent figures for road traffic accidents and road traffic offences show we are making great strides in educating the people of Bury to be sensible and stick to the laws of the land. The laws are there to protect everyone and we will not relax our efforts to make Bury's road and streets the safest in Greater Manchester for a long time to come."

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.