17 more speed cameras for Wakefield Road - full story

Jun 12 2009 Huddersfield Daily Examiner

SEVENTEEN speed cameras are to be put in place on what has been dubbed Huddersfield’s “death road”.

They will be placed along a five-mile stretch of Wakefield Road which has seen 10 people killed in the past four years.

More than 100 others have been hurt, many seriously in a series of horrific accidents.

It is a move by Kirklees Council’s Highways and Transportation Service in a bid to reduce the number of serious accidents on the A642 Wakefield Road between Waterloo and the boundary with the Wakefield area, near the National Coal Mining Museum.

That stretch of road has seen 78 accidents resulting in 125 casualties between January 2004 and December 2008.

Nine people were killed in that period, with another person dying earlier this year.

There have also been 23 people left with serious injuries.

Highways officials have been working closely with the Almondbury and Kirkburton councillors who have all been heavily involved in finding solutions for the problems on this route.

Despite road safety schemes along the route in the past which have reduced the numbers of crashes, the number of fatal crashes has increased and nine people have been killed in the past three years.