THE NUMBER of mobile speed camera vans in North Yorkshire is to be doubled to 12 in a bid to prevent speeding in rural areas.

The increase in mobile safety cameras is designed to improve road safety, particularly on rural roads, and to provide a service that can be moved to areas where communities are concerned about speeding.

The vans will also include Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) technology, so they can also be used to tackle wider issues of anti-social road use and cross-border criminality.

Police and Crime Commissioner Julia Mulligan, who made the announcement, said the larger fleet will also raise police visibility, which can be a deterrent to criminals. It would also provide community reassurance and allow police to increase the number of hours on operational duty.

The six new vehicles will be smaller than the current vans, which makes them especially suitable for rural locations. Currently, the existing fleet cannot be used on many country roads because they require a certain amount of hard-standing to be stationed safely.

But the new, smaller vehicles can be used on roads currently unsuitable for existing camera vans.

Mrs Mulligan’s office said the number of deaths on North Yorkshire’s roads has reduced by around a third since 2010 when safety camera vans were first piloted in the region, whilst the number of serious injuries has reduced by more than 20 per cent.

The Police and Crime Commissioner’s office said there was not yet any academic research to attribute the reductions solely to the introduction of safety camera vehicles, but thought there was a “strong likelihood” they had made a significant contribution.

Mrs Mulligan said: “The issue most often raised with me is road safety, particularly speeding through villages and other local communities. These new vehicles will mean we can better improve road safety, continue to see the numbers of people hurt or killed reduce and support even more communities who have road safety concerns.”

Deputy Chief Constable Tim Madgwick, chair of 95 Alive Road Safety Partnership, said the vans would allow them to protect people who were more vulnerable to crime committed by travelling criminals because of their rural location.

He said: “We welcome the decision to increase the numbers of safety camera vans on North Yorkshire’s roads. We have fortunately seen the number of fatalities and casualties on our roads reduce in the past year and the new additions to the safety camera fleet will help us to reduce these numbers further.”