Thousands of motorists caught speeding....on Belmont Road!

More than 4,600 motorists were caught speeding by the county’s only fixed camera last year.

The speed camera on Hereford’s Belmont Road has only been in place since July 2018.

But a freedom of information request has revealed a total of 4,634 notices of intended prosecution were issued last year to those breaking the 30mph speed limit.

Some 1,523 of those drivers opted to pay a £100 fine and have three penalty points on their driving licence in the 2018/19 financial year.
And the highest speed detected that year and prosecuted through the courts was 64mph.

Since the start of the current financial year, and as of May 30, the camera has caught 784 speeding motorists.

Of these, 133 have chosen to dispose the matter by accepting the conditional offer of a fixed penalty.

The highest speed prosecuted through the courts so far this year is 53mph.

The highest recorded speed to date is 74mph – this was an ambulance and an exemption for emergency services was submitted and no further action was taken.

So far this year, the highest record speed was also that of an ambulance which clocked 73mph.

Newton Farm county councillor Bernard Hunt said he believed the speed camera was introduced after several road traffic collision along that stretch of the road.

He said motorists would benefit from better signage alerting them to the presence of a speed camera.

“It would remind people to check their speed before they see the camera,” he said.

“The signage there at the moment is very poor and I think improving it would be much fairer.”

He said he thought a lot of those motorists being caught speeding are travelling at speeds just above the limit.

“It’s a difficult one because I think the speed is set a little too low.

“But if that is the speed limit for the city then people have to be prepared that if they are going above it they will face a fine.”