SPEED cameras are set to be re-introduced in Coventry streets later this year.
After their removal since 2010, new technology will used this time to more effectively snare offenders.
Officials warn the new ‘average speed cameras’ will offer no hiding place.
Motorists who used to slow down only when passing the old static speed cameras will find it harder to avoid prosecution, as the new devices will measure their speed over a longer stretch.
Speed cameras will initially be re-introduced on two of Coventry’s busiest roads.
Officials insist the only intent is to improve safety, and the cameras will not be used as a cash cow.
Coventry city councillors are being recommended to install the cameras on stretches of London Road and Ansty Road – and more could follow.
The council says over a three-year period, London Road saw 22 accidents, including three fatalities and six serious injuries.
And there were 32 accidents on Ansty Road over a similar period, resulting in two fatalities and five serious injuries, it says.
The cameras on London Road would cover the stretch from Allard Way to the A46, with the Ansty Road cameras covering from Dane Road to Clifford Bridge Road.
“Clear signs would be put up to tell drivers they are entering an average speed control zone,” the council statement adds.
The council has come under heavy criticism in recent months, including from an independent tribunal, for ‘inadequate’ signage to motorists entering the city’s bus gates, which have raised million of pounds in fines.
The council statement adds: “Income from motorists paying for speed awareness courses would be used to cover police costs and re-invested in maintaining and potentially extending the scheme.”
Councillor Jayne Innes, Coventry City Council’s cabinet member for city services, said: “Every person can tell you an area they are concerned about in the city about speeding traffic.
“We are not responsible for enforcement but this is something as a council we are willing to pay for and target roads where there are persistent problems.
“Average speed cameras have been shown to be really effective with a dramatic cut in the number of accidents where they have been installed.
“No-one who is driving safely and responsibly has anything to worry about and I am sure they will be welcomed by the majority of people.”
Average speed cameras record the registration of a car and calculate its speed by measuring the time taken to travel between set points.
The scheme has been trialled across the UK.
In the West Midlands, the cameras have recently been trialled in Birmingham and Solihull, with early results showing a cut in speed of up to 20 per cent, it is claimed.
The council is responsible for setting speed limits and works with the police who enforce them.
The council as the ‘lead authority for the West Midlands on road safety’ has a target of cutting the number of fatal and serious injury accidents by 40 per cent over the next 10 years.
Councillors will discuss the plan at a meeting on Tuesday.
