Devon upgrading and installing cameras to combat collisions and traffic light jumps

More speed cameras have been installed at accident hotspots across Devon, with some existing ones upgraded.

The county council has acted in areas where data suggests a higher number of road traffic injuries and collisions are happening.

They are also being used to catch drivers who don’t stop at red lights.

Five of the newer safety cameras are in Exeter, with two on Bridge Road and one on Alphington Road. Another pair have been recently installed on Topsham Road at its junction with Barrack Road and another at the Burnthouse Lane junction.

The Topsham Road/Burnthouse Lane camera has been put in to enforce red light violations, while the Barrack Road one is a new location following a review of what a council spokesperson called ‘collision clusters’.

Some of the new cameras on Bridge Road, near Countess Wear were flagged recently by a community Facebook group entitled ‘Spotted Alphington UK’.

One member of the group commented the cameras had been “popping up in places [in Exeter] which are often heavily congested”.

“There’s also another one in Exeter at a set of traffic lights where if you’ve had to stop for a red light, it’s near enough impossible to break the speed limit within its range when it turns green,” the person said.

That might be wishful thinking. It’s known one motorist has been fined twice in two days within days of the cameras being switched on.

In the past few months, upgraded cameras have also been installed on Exeter Road of both Okehampton and Exmouth, Ashburton Road in Totnes and Clovelly Road in Bideford.

One more camera installation is currently planned this financial year on the A379 near Newcourt Way junction in Exeter, on a stretch of Old Rydon Lane down to Ikea.

The upgrades are being carried out by Devon and Cornwall Vision Zero South West, a collaboration by Devon County Council and Devon & Cornwall Police.

Adrian Leisk, head of road safety at the police, chairs the road safety partnership’s enforcement committee.

“Speed is a major contributory factor in serious and fatal collisions,” he said.

“It gives drivers less time to react and significantly increases your chances of being killed or seriously injured in the event of a crash.

“Speed enforcement is there to protect road users and keep people safe by ensuring motorists adhere to speed limits.

By Bradley Gerrard, local democracy reporter.