Cameras cutting speed on 'Fast and Furious' road

Introducing average speed cameras on a road where drivers were accused of trying to "recrate scenes out of the Fast and Furious franchise" has led to a "marked change", according to police.

Insp John Barker, from the Keighley Neighbourhood Policing Team, said the devices on the Bingley Bypass had proved more effective than days of action or police operations.

He said: "If you see a police camera van on a road you will think twice about speeding on there. The average speed camera on the Bingley Bypass has had a marked change on driver behaviour."

The cameras were installed in 2024 after years of calls for action on the road, with one driver caught travelling at 115mph (185km/h) on the road.

Speaking at a meeting on Thursday, Insp Barker said he would like to see the scheme extended to the Steeton and Silsden Bypass.

When the cameras were fitted on the Bingley Bypass last spring they were the first average speed cameras in the district, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

The £230,000 scheme was installed between Cottingley and Keighley - along Sir Fred Hoyle Way and Airevalley Road - at the same time as a reduction in the speed limit from 70mph (112km/h) to 50mph (80km/h)

It came after a council meeting in 2022, when one Bingley councillor claimed drivers use the road to "recreate scenes out of the Fast and Furious franchise".

Instead of recording a vehicle's speed at a single moment, the series of cameras works out a vehicles average speed over a long stretch of road.

At the meeting, councillors were told that between April 2024 and January 2025 the operation had led to:

• 378 traffic offence reports/summons for speeding
• 139 traffic offence reports/summons for other offences (including mobile phone use, not wearing a seatbelt, no insurance and no licence)
• 35 vehicles seized
• eight arrests

There were also numerous days of action by West Yorkshire Police's Operation Steerside, including operations in the Keighley West ward based on concerns over off road and nuisance motorbikes.

The meeting heard while the days of action had born fruit, it was often the introduction of speed cameras or police speed vans that proved most successful in preventing dangerous driving.

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