The speed of motorists heading into Glusburn and Cross Hills has actually increased despite mobile speed camera sites and other measures being introduced.

New figures released this week show that traffic travelling west along Keighley Road averages 45 mph - an increase of 5mph since the camera sites, traffic islands and parking areas were introduced last April.

However, fear of getting a speeding ticket has slowed traffic heading west by nine miles per hour to 31 mph.

Now a councillor, furious at "boy racers" speeding in Holme Lane, Cross Hills, has called for the police to get tough.

Craven Councillor Steven Place said: "The problem is not general high speeds in Holme Lane but certain individuals.

"It's young men in small cars who show off during the day and in the evenings by zooming along the road. What it needs is the police to stop a few and put some penalty points on their licences."

North Yorkshire County Council highways sub-committee has agreed to extend the camera zone in a bid to slowdown traffic in the Cross Hills and Glusburn area.

Several portable speed camera sites have been installed at Glusburn, Cross Hills and Cowling at a cost of £3,500 each.

The calming measures are part of a wider scheme to manage the traffic in the area and are regularly monitored by North Yorkshire County Council's highways department.

The scheme includes the controversial road humps in Station Road, Cross Hills, whose effectiveness is still under debate.

A similar idea for Holme Lane, the road between Cross Hills and Sutton, was rejected in December 1997 in favour of extra speed camera warning signs to encourage drivers to slow down. But the county's roads chief, Mike Moore, believes road humps are the only real answer to reducing traffic speed on Holme Lane significantly.

"If the community wants traffic speeds on Holme Lane to be similar to those on Station Road, then traffic calming measures similar to the original proposals would need to be introduced," says Mr Moore, in a report which has gone before councillors.

When members of the county's highways sub-committee meet today they will also be told that the road humps on Station Road should stay despite calls for them to be scrapped.

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