Camera aims to 'stop racing and endangering lives'

Police in Jersey have unveiled the island's first mobile speed camera.

Chief Officer Robin Smith said it was designed to catch "people that are racing around our island, endangering other islanders", which he described as an "enduring and persistent problem".

He said the camera would be deployed in a way that was "more subtle" than the bright yellow cameras that are commonplace in the UK.

It comes as one islander described his home's windows rattling because of "out of control" drivers speeding past.

States of Jersey Police have been demonstrating the new piece of equipment as part of their Get Home Safe campaign to mark Road Safety Week.

Mr Smith said speeding, or anti-social driving, was one of the "top five concerns of islanders" who get in touch with him.

"You haven't got to look very hard to see skid marks on roads, people complaining about noisy cars racing in the middle of the night," he said.

He was keen to stress that while he does not want anyone driving over the speed limit, police are not targeting those "driving 33 in a 30" with the new camera.

Instead, he described it as "preventative tool" for "those who won't listen".

Asked how visible the camera would be, he said "this has the capability to be deployed without the need for staff", and that police would consider the hotspots where it could be placed.

Daniel Parkes described the speeding outside his home as "absolutely ridiculous".

"I've never seen anything like it in Jersey... the crazy thing about it is that it happens all day long," he said.

"We sit in the house sometimes and you can see the windows going. You see them coming down the road, and some of them are out of control."

Mr Parkes said he thought a photographic speed camera would be a good solution to the problems on his road.

"It makes me feel uneasy sometimes, I walk my dog along here, and I just feel that one day, one of the cars is going to come off the road and kill someone," he said.

Infrastructure Minister Andy Jehan, whose department has worked in partnership with police, said he was pleased to see the camera in action.

He described his own experience of being woken up at night by speeding vehicles, which he called a "really big problem".

"Anti-social driving is happening all around the island, and it's not just late at night, it's early in the morning as well," he said.

"When there's a serious collision, it costs us hundreds of thousands of pounds, so this small investment is well worthwhile if it can reduce the amount of collisions we see on the island."

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