'They won't speed when it's busy, when it isn't they fly down'

"People fly down here at 50 or 60mph," says Steve Croft ruefully as he litter-picks through the vegetation on a thorn-covered grass verge on Albert Road in Morley, Leeds.

It is on this road that just under 800 people have received speeding tickets from West Yorkshire Police in just nine months.

A typical suburban road, which stretches for nearly one mile (1km) outwards from the town centre, it is a 20mph (32 km/h) zone lined with detached and semi-detached houses and amenities such as a pub, a fish-and-chip shop and a primary school.

"They won't speed when it's busy, but when it isn't they absolutely fly down," Steve explains, adding that speeding is "definitely an issue".

Whether it is so-called "boy racers" roaring down the street at night, or commuters taking liberties while dashing home, speeding is a familiar bugbear in communities like this across West Yorkshire and up and down the country.

Cameras, sleeping policemen and priority one-way systems are among the measures local authorities install to try to tackle the problem, but clearly they are not always enough to deter motorists travelling at excessive speed.

Gesticulating to a set of traffic lights down the hill which effectively act as a gateway to Morley town centre, Steve says drivers "sometimes try to beat the lights".

Despite being irritated with people speeding close to the town centre where Albert Road is narrower, he says he does actually have sympathy with people trying to keep to the same speed limit further up the road, where it is much wider and more open.

He suggests perhaps making that stretch of the road a 30mph (48 km/h) zone, but limiting it to 20mph around pick-up and drop-off times at Morley Newlands Academy - the primary school at the other end of the road.

Another local resident, Julie, who works in Miners Fisheries a short walk up the street, supports that idea.

She says that such a system is already in place outside Bruntcliffe Academy, on the other side of Morley.

"We've had customers who've been done for speeding on the way here and then done again on the way back," she says.

There are no fixed speed cameras on Albert Road, but West Yorkshire Police figures show that its vans have caught 797 people speeding along it during just 13 roadside operations since last April.

The 20mph limit is well signposted, however, and an interactive roadside monitor flashes with oncoming vehicles' speed, followed by either a smiley or a sad face to indicate whether it is legal.

Rob Ellis, who recently moved to the area, was fined for doing 24mph (38 km/h) on Albert Road as he went to the gym early in the morning.

Despite that, he remains philosophical about getting the speeding ticket.

"Doing 24mph isn't that much and it sucks getting that £100 fine, but I think having these rules in places is just," he says.

Rob says some people in the area who have received speeding tickets have complained about being "robbed" by the authorities, but he says he does not agree with that sentiment himself.

"If they are robbing us, then I'd rather they rob us than a child gets killed," he says.

"I've seen people do 30, 40, even 50mph down here," he recalls.

"If I'm driving, I'll try to flash my headlights at them or wave my hand to try to get them to slow down because there are children round here."

Local mum Amy Seed also agrees that drivers speeding along Albert Road is a serious issue.

"It's really bad," she says.

"Having children as well, it's always a worry that someone will get seriously hurt.

"Is that what it's going to take for something more to be done?"

Amy adds: "Everyone seems to be in a rush these days, and you get a lot of young lads racing up and down thinking it's clever, or showing off.

"I think the 20mph limit is fair enough. There's a school round the corner and there's a lot of families round here."

Meanwhile, Joy Middlebrook says speeding motorists is not only a problem on Albert Road, but on nearby Glen Road and Magpie Lane as well.

While Joy acknowledges that it can be "difficult to drive at 20mph" in modern cars, she says people "should still be more cautious nonetheless".

"It's people usually being in a hurry and impatient and thinking the speed limits are for everyone else and not for them, I suppose."

In 2023, West Yorkshire Police's road casualty unit announced a crackdown on what it called the region's "speeding problem".

The force highlighted so-called "camera surfers" who only slow down in locations they know have speed cameras.

At that time, police also said they were braced for a "backlash" from drivers angry at being fined.

But it seems in at least one community in West Yorkshire badly affected by speeding, at least some people would still like even more to be done.

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