A CRACKDOWN on speeding through towns and villages in a bid to save lives is being called for by the Council for the Protection of Rural England in Worcestershire.

The answer, according to the CPRE, is the use of speed cameras, but fear West Mercia Police are reluctant to use them.

Peter Sturgeon, CPRE Worcestershire roads spokesman, said cutting motorists' speed was a proven way of saving lives, and Worcestershire County Council had led the way with lower speed limits in towns and villages, though police admitted enforcement was difficult if not impossible in some areas.

The tragic irony was, he said, that most traffic accidents in which children were killed or seriously injured occurred in 30mph zones, often when drivers were speeding.

Now CPRE Worcestershire is calling for fixed speed cameras to be put up, particularly in villages and towns with busy roads running through them, and ideally on every approach to every village.

"The highly visible, metal boxed camera seen so commonly in other counties yet woefully missing in Worcestershire are the single most effective way of reducing speeding," Mr Sturgeon said.

For the past few years West Mercia Police have opted to use speed traps instead of fixed speed cameras sited in boxes, but Mr Sturgeon claimed: "The policy is wrong. Fixed speed cameras are a deterrent to the inconsiderate motorist, while speed traps do nothing except raise revenue. The government announced its backing for the fixed speed cameras, West Mercia Police need to do the same and make our streets safer."

Inspector Tony Fisher, of West Mercia Police Traffic and Operations Department, said the police could not afford hundreds of cameras. "A single fixed camera costs four times as much as a mobile camera," he said. "We can catch more people speeding by moving the cameras Around."