Woman campaigns for speed cameras to be installed on Luton road

The duck died after it was struck at the entrance to Earls Meade, in Luton, at around 6pm on Thursday, May 9.

Claire Rich is now campaigning for speed cameras to be erected on New Bedford Road and Old Bedford Road.

She said: “I contacted Bedfordshire Police, I want them to release CCTV to catch the person that has done this.

“I want to know if anyone saw the collision. A male mallard duck was killed, I am devastated by what has happened.

“I am campaigning to make this road safer, I think speed cameras should be put up to stop people speeding and using the roads like a speed track.”

Claire reported the incident to Bedfordshire Police.

A spokesperson for the force said: “We received a call at approximately 8pm on Thursday (9 May) to report a dead duck near to Earls Meade, Old Bedford Road, Luton. There were no witnesses to a collision, but the information was logged and passed to our Rural Crime team for review.

“Under the Road Traffic Act, there is no requirement for a motorist to report a collision with wildlife, and following that review this is not something we can investigate.”

A spokesman for Luton Council said: “Enforcement of speed is a police issue and Luton Council has worked closely with Bedfordshire Police over recent years to increase the amount of enforcement.

“Speed cameras are strategically placed across the town, with the locations selected based on accident history and speed of traffic.

“We continue to monitor all injury accidents and work hard to reduce these.”

A spokesman for Bedfordshire Police added: “We take reports of speeding very seriously – it is one of the four main causes of death and serious injury on our roads which is why we work to clamp down on speeding drivers across the country.

“If people raise a concern around speeding in their community then we will assess whether it is an appropriate use of our resources and if so we will look to organise enforcement activity.

“We work alongside Luton Borough Council’s Highways team, which shares traffic data and information obtained to support and encourage our presence.

“We continue to remind our community teams of the speed concerns for this area and will balance speed enforcement operations against the demands for road and community policing matters across the whole of the county.”