Campaign for speed cameras on dangerous Derbyshire road gets fresh Government support
A community campaign to introduce speed enforcement cameras on a dangerous Derbyshire A-road has reached the attention of Government ministers who may intervene to support the scheme where the county council has so far failed.
As previously reported, residents in Ashover have long been calling for average speed cameras to be installed on the A632 Chesterfield Road, based on a catalogue of collisions, near-misses and other evidence of dangerous driving.
The campaign took on even greater energy with the involvement of Tyneside resident Billy Boyack, who witnessed the head-on collision near Span Carr crossroads which killed his wife Angela and son Stephen in 2023, for which the driver of the other car was sentenced to 13 years in prison.
Billy has turned that tragedy into a fight to prevent other families suffering the same fate, pushing for stricter criminal penalties and better enforcement mechanisms on the road.
One aspect of that is working with his own MP, Emma Lewell, on updates to national sentencing laws which could put death by dangerous driving on a par with murder.
Billy, 63, said: “If you didn’t like a bloke down the road so you went out with a knife and killed his wife and youngest son, you’d get a life sentence.
“If you got in your car instead and ran them over at a pedestrian crossing, the lawyers will say ‘he’s a good driver, he had no points on his licence’ and they’ll just hammer the sentence down until you spend barely any time in prison. Where’s the justice in that?
“The driver in my case knew he was going to prison, so he waited until four weeks before the trial to plead guilty and got a year knocked off his sentence. He might be out walking the streets in eight years. He played the system and its so easy to do.
“A car is a murder weapon in the wrong hands but, at the moment, the judges, the police, the Crown Prosecution Service have to fight to get more severe sentences.
“The only people getting a proper sentence are the victims. I haven’t got my wife or youngest son. My eldest son is heartbroken and he’s still a young man. He’ll be living with this for 60 years.”
Any changes to sentencing will take some time to pass through Parliament, but Billy’s lobbying efforts have already reached the desk of Government minister for victims, Alex Davies-Jones.
After learning of the case, Ms Davies-Jones has listened to Billy’s argument for average speed cameras to be installed on the A632 and has taken up the cause alongside North East Derbyshire MP Louise Sandher-Jones.
Billy said: “The A632 is like living on an earthquake fault line – the earthquake is always going to happen. The period between crashes and fatalities on that road is so short, that we’re actually overdue one now. In four weeks time it will be two years since we lost Angela and Stephen, and still nothing has been done.
“One average speed camera costs something like £120,000, you could put three of them in for half a million. That’s pittance for a government. Then you think about all the money that could be saved on police time, ambulances, investigators, courts – that could run to a million pounds just for one incident. Speed cameras will quickly pay for themselves.
“The ministers say there is a pot of road safety money there that councils can apply for, and once they do the funding is usually released fairly quickly. For some reason we can’t get that done on the A632.
“The police, the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA), everybody and their dog are on board, so nobody can understand why Derbyshire County Council isn’t doing this.
“The council could tell us they’ve applied for the money, or even just carry out initial assessment work, but they’re saying nothing. There may be some perfectly legitimate reason but in that case they could explain.
"We have to chase and chase them for everything, nothing gets actioned and it all just falls into a black hole and disappears.
“There’s a piece missing in the jigsaw. Ms Davies-Jones said she’ll speak to the transport minister and start pushing hard to find out why this is.”
Sharing that frustration, Ms Sandher-Jones said: “I have raised this issue directly with the Secretary of State for Transport during a site visit, as well as with both the road safety minister and the victims minister. However, responsibility for addressing this matter ultimately lies with Derbyshire County Council.
“I have repeatedly urged the council to recognise the very real dangers posed by this road and to take meaningful, urgent action to deliver the safety improvements that are so clearly needed.”
She added: “Local residents have presented DCC with compelling evidence of excessive vehicle speeds along this stretch, and there have been a number of serious accidents since the tragic deaths of Angela and Stephen Boyack.
“The message from the community could not be clearer: it is time for DCC to take responsibility, and act now to make meaningful safety improvements.”
Last month, the council and Derbyshire Police announced they will create a dedicated parking area to station speed enforcement vans near Span Carr, but campaigners maintain an occasional presence is unlikely to have the necessary effect.
The proposal to install permanent speed cameras has received near unanimous support from local residents and representatives but neither the previous Conservative administration nor the current Reform UK leadership at County Hall have heeded those demands.
Councillor Helen Wetherall, who represents Ashover on North East Derbyshire District Council, said: “It would be wrong to say this is an accident waiting to happen. There has already been a serious of accidents, injuries and deaths, and there are incidents virtually every week.
“The Ashover Community Action Group has had many conversations with the police, councillors and the police and crime commissioner. There’s been an unbelievable number of people impacted by that road. Everyone apart from the highways authority believes that a permanent solution is what’s required.”
She added: “The parish council has paid for speed indicator devices along a stretch of the road with a 40 miles per hour speed limit, and has been sending that data every month to Derbyshire County Council.
“That has recorded cars travelling at maximum speeds of up to 150mph, at all times of day. Of those travelling north on the road, something like 30 per cent of them are driving at more than 75mph.
“It beggars belief, and I’d challenge any council in the country to come up with a stretch of 40mph road where these speeds are occurring so regularly.”
While some motorists may bristle at the imposition of speed cameras, it is not only people living along the road who want to see something done. Many who frequently pass along the route have also raised concerns.
Billy has been asked by ministers to collect testimonies showing the strength of support for the cameras, and has been inundated with responses via email, Facebook and community groups.
Among those he has already received, one woman wrote: “I use that road a lot, and have seen the aftermath of a horrific crash on that stretch of road. People see it as a challenge as you have the steep hill and countryside all around.
“There needs to be deterrents for speeding, signs that light up could be useful with the speed you are going lit up for all to see.”
Another wrote: “I’m a local driving instructor and use this road regularly – Slack Hill and the flying mile to Stanedge and the reverse of that road back to Matlock.
“I see absolute maniacs regularly overtaking above the speed limit. The whole route needs and an urgent review of road safety.”
In response to questions from the Derbyshire Times, Councillor Charlotte Hill, the county’s cabinet member for potholes, highways and transport, defended the authority’s record of action but agreed there was scope to go further still.
She said: “Road safety is one of our top priorities and we continue to work hard with the police to improve road safety on this route. We’ve recently approved funding to create a purpose-built bay for the police to deploy their speed enforcement van on the A632 which is due to be installed in the coming months. This will help the police carry out speed enforcement action along the road.
“The annual collision rate on this route has halved since 2015 and speed surveys show that traffic speeds have also reduced following changes to the speed limits. We have also carried out a number of other safety measures including improving signage at junctions and cutting back foliage. But we are always striving to improve things further and average safety cameras are one of our aspirations, which we hope the Government will support us with.
“We agree the A632 should be included in the national scheme for average speed cameras and other measures and we continue to be in regular contact with the Department for Transport for funding for this through the national Safer Roads Fund.”
Anyone who would like to add their support for the campaign, or share their experience of issues on the A632 can contact Billy and Cllr Wetherall via boyackbilly[at]gmail.com or helen.wetherall[at]ne-derbyshire.gov.uk.