A SPEED camera on the Rawtenstall bypass caught more than one motorist speeding every minute, new figures have revealed.


Drivers travelling at speeds in excess of 60mph on the 40mph A682 were captured by the mobile speed camera over a two and a half hour period in October.


Most of the 147 drivers caught were travelling between 47mph – the speed required for prosecution in a 40mph zone – and 51mph, but 11 were seen going faster than 60mph, figures released under the Freedom of Information Act revealed.

One was at 70mph.


A spokesman for Lancashire police’s Pennine road policing unit said: “Reducing the number of people who are killed or injured on Lancashire’s roads is one of Lancashire Constabulary’s main priorities.


“We use speed cameras to enforce speed limits at locations with a history of collisions or where there are community concerns about speeding to reduce the number of people killed or injured.


“However, whilst we carry out enforcement activity across the county on a daily basis in relation to speeding, we would also say that education, and therefore ultimately prevention, is key to making our roads safer.


“Many people who are caught speeding choose to pay to take a speed awareness course rather than pay a fine and take points on their licence, which is encouraging as we want to educate motorists on the consequences of speeding.”


The police van was in a layby, around 650m from a fixed speed camera on Haslingden Road, police said.


A traffic police officer in the van was using a hand-held speed gun.


The Lancashire Telegraph reported last month how Lancashire police used 122 East Lancashire sites for eight mobile speed camera vans from July to September.