Two-wheeled speed camera

The first motorbike-mounted speed camera is now operational on the roads of Northamptonshire.

The Honda Pan European has been brought in to meet rising demand from residents of small villages to catch persistent speeders and is specially-adapted to carry identical equipment to that used in the county’s speed camera vans.

Commander of Northamptonshire Police operations department, chief superintendent Stuart Kilpatrick, said: “On numerous occasions we have to turn down these requests because the roads are unsuitable for parking our vans appropriately and safely. The motorcycle is obviously much more versatile and will enable us to assist in reducing speed.”

In the past police motorcyclists have had to pull drivers over to issue them with a fixed penalty notice, but the new bike is fitted with video recording equipment that means that vehicle details can be captured without having to stop the driver

The bike will also be used to patrol the county’s Red Routes roads that the safety camera partnership have deemed to be the most dangerous and will have portable speed camera warning signs so it can work on roads that don’t have such signs permanently fixed.

To comment on this story click the link on the right to go to our News discussion board.