Drivers caught doing over 130mph on A66 – cumbriacrack.com
Two drivers were caught doing over 130mph on the A66 in Eden in the last month.
The drivers were clocked at speeds of 134mph and 133mph in the last month as part of a crackdown on accident blackspots by police and partner agencies.
Seven other motorists were found to be doing between 95mph and 107mph.
Over the past month, Cumbria police’s mobile speed camera vans have focused on specific hotspot areas, identified by collision data compiled over several years.
This last month, officers have concentrated on three hotspots, including the A66 in Eden – a road which has seen 198 collisions in the past five years.
Sergeant Jack Stabler, of Cumbria police, said: “As a stretch of road, the A66 at Eden has seen 10 fatal collisions in the past five years – more than anywhere else in the county.
“It has also seen more than 80 injury collisions in that time period, with almost half – 34 – resulting in serious injuries.
“It is early days and it would be wrong to read too much into data collected over a single month. However, we are encouraged that our first month focusing our road safety van resources on the A66 has coincided with zero collisions on that stretch of road.
Where the speeding motorists were caught on the A66 by police
“Mobile speed cameras are often maligned. However, we are determined to use our safety camera van resources in the most effective way possible as we aim to significantly reduce the number of people killed or seriously injured on our roads.”
The use of data and analytics comes as the constabulary and its partners adopt Cumbria Vision Zero 2040.
Vision Zero is a multi-national traffic safety initiative with the goal of no one being killed or seriously injured within the road transport network.
Sgt Stabler said: “Previously the Constabulary has spread its use of Road Safety vans over a wide area, with locations chosen based on factors which could often come down to which community is most effective in raising concerns about their own area.
“Moving forward, we will continue to listen to those voicing concerns but we will also be giving a far greater weight to what the data and analytics are telling us and pointing our resources where they can be most effective in making our county’s roads safer.”