Motorists have been urged to take more care after an alarming increase in road crash deaths.

So far this year 22 people have been killed on the district's roads compared to 17 by the same time last year. This year's death toll comprises 11 pedestrians, five car drivers, four car passengers. one cyclist and one motor cyclist,

It is the second highest in West Yorkshire with only Leeds experiencing more fatalities, with 28.

Ken Scarlett, Bradford Council's senior road safety officer, today said he feared that this year's fatality rate could exceed last year's total of 33 which was the highest since 1993. "If the weather is bad then there won't be as many accidents as people won't make those inessential journeys through the winter," he said.

"But if the weather stays fine and the sun is shining then I think last year's figure will be exceeded because everyone goes out and there is more activity on the roads."

Mr Scarlett said the figures could not be put down to one factor but he warned that speeding was a major issue. He said excessive partying and drinking at Christmas was also a reason why there are so many casualties in the last quarter of the year.

In West Yorkshire so far this year 89 people have been killed in accidents. Again the figure is on course to exceed last year's total of 144 which was the highest in the county for a decade.

But Mr Scarlett said since high-visibility speed cameras had been introduced near Thornton Grammar School, in Thornton Road, where five people, including a two-year-old boy, died in two separate accidents last year, speeds have dropped and drivers are taking more care.

Cameras are also to be installed at Cottingley Cliffe Road and Leeds Road in Shipley, and at several junctions to discourage drivers going through at red.

Bradford's speed camera scheme is being carried out by the West Yorkshire Casualty Reduction Partnership, with a £140,000 Bradford Council roads improvement scheme. It is being supported by West Yorkshire Police, the Highways Agency, West Yorkshire Health Authority and the Magistrate's Court Service.