THE A64 could soon be the first road in North Yorkshire to have fixed speed cameras.

Highways England is carrying out a feasibility study to look at the potential for average speed cameras along the major road.

North Yorkshire Police said it would welcome the cameras, while Kevin Hollinrake, MP for Thirsk and Malton, has said he will look at the proposal closely.

A spokesman for Highways England said: “We are still in the very early stages of this and are working closely with North Yorkshire Police and the 95 Alive Steering Group.”

The locations of where the devices could be installed will be “taken into account as part of the study”, the spokesman added.

Currently, there are no fixed speed cameras in North Yorkshire, with police using a fleet of vans with cameras.

A North Yorkshire Police spokesman said: “North Yorkshire Police welcomes any measure which would improve the safety of road users on the A64, which is one of the roads in our region which experiences a high number of collisions.

“The benefit of our mobile safety camera fleet is exactly that, their flexibility to move around the region and also their adaptability in the fact that they do not only enforce speeding offences, they also combat anti-social road behaviour such as mobile phone offences and seatbelt offences.

“If fixed cameras were to go ahead, we would welcome the opportunity for our mobile safety camera fleet to work alongside the fixed cameras, to enable us and our partners to increase the level of safety for all the road users of North Yorkshire.”

Mr Hollinrake has been calling for action to improve the safety of the A64 for some time.

He said: “I will, of course, study any proposals closely and make appropriate representations. However, there have been 11 tragic losses of life on the A64 over the last 18 months and we all recognise that these terrible tragedies ruin many, many lives. We must put public safety first.”

Last month, a number of cars were allegedly caught speeding at more than 100mph on the A64 between Malton and York in one evening.

The North Yorkshire Roads Policing Group stopped the cars, which were allegedly driving at 135mph, 130mph, 120mph, 115mph, 114mph and 109mph, on November 19.