Drivers see device as a ‘challenge’

The speed a car is travelling in Syke Lane flashes up on the device display and is logged– but no vehicle registration details are recorded.

David Huntington, who lives in nearby Syke Avenue, said: “It’s like living next to a race track. It’s beyond a joke.

“It’s the same cars racing up and down doing horrendous speeds because there’s nothing to slow them down.”

Neil Shaw, of Syke Lane, added: “I think the young lads are using it as a target now to see how fast they can come round the corner. “

The device, funded by Dewsbury Area Committee, was put in place after years of complaints about speeding.

The data will be used to help council officials decide whether traffic calming measures are needed there.

Mr Huntington said it had been due for removal in April so the data could be retrieved, but it was still in place.

A council spokeswoman said it had been in talks with Coun Paul Kane (Lab, Dews East) about the same issue.

She said officers would be in a better position to decide what action, if any, was appropriate once the data had been collected in.

“The information is due to be analysed in the near future when the camera is moved to a new site,” she added,

Mr Huntington said: “We need speed humps. Everywhere else has got them.

“We’ve been told [before] that the bus company won’t accept it, but they go along Bywell Road, Princess Road and Ossett Lane, which all have them.”

Mr Shaw said: “I think speed cameras would be better. Humps would slow them down a bit but a camera would catch them.”