A motorcycle speed patrol is to be introduced on Bradford roads.

In a ground-breaking move, the motorcycle, equipped with a speed camera, will join West Yorkshire Police's fleet of four Ford Galaxy cars to monitor 85 crash "blackspots" across the county.

The bike is marked with police emblems and will be ridden and operated by trained officers.

"The motorcycle will operate on all currently approved sites, in the same spots where the Galaxys park," said Philip Gwynne, of West Yorkshire Casualty Reduction Partnership. He said the bike would also be used on single lane carriageways where a car might intrude into the road.

The officers will use a tripod mounted camera in conjunction with laser speed measurement devices and video.

The purpose of the patrol is to act as a high-visibility warning to drivers that they are on a stretch of road where there has been a high number of deaths and serious injuries.

Last year, it was revealed that the Bradford district had six of the ten most dangerous junctions in West Yorkshire, with five of those falling within a corridor between the city centre and the M606.

The death toll on Bradford's roads also rose for the second year running, with 25 deaths in 2005, compared to 20 in 2004 and 15 in 2003.

  • An initiative to get West Yorkshire's drivers to take a fresh look at their behaviour behind the wheel has been voted UK Radio Campaign of the Year.
  • The How are you driving?' campaign by West Yorkshire Casualty Reduction Partnership was a series of hard-hitting adverts in the form of mini-dramas.

e-mail: will.kilner@bradford.newsquest.co.uk

DANGEROUS ROADS

The eight most dangerous roads in the district in terms of the severity of the crashes are:

  • Sticker Lane-Cutler Heights Lane, Dudley Hill.
  • Otley Road-Killinghall Road, Undercliffe.
  • Hard Ings Road-Bradford Road, Keighley.
  • Leatherbank Road roundabout, Burley-in-Wharfedale.
  • Canal Road, Bolton Lane, Undercliffe.
  • Bolton Road-Lister Road-Queens Road, Bradford.
  • Southfield Lane-Southfield Road-Little Horton Lane-St Enoch's Road, Little Horton.
  • Killinghall Road-Barkerend Road-Leeds Old Road, Bradford.