A HAZARDOUS Crewe road is unlikely to get speed cameras because of Government rules dictating where they can be placed.

Cheshire Camera Safety Partnership bosses say cameras can only be deployed when there have been four people killed or seriously injured in collisions in a kilometre section of road over a three-year period.

The deaths of the A530 Middlewich Road have been miles apart.

But campaigners are demanding the road is made an exception after a series of crashes in which eight people have died since 2005.

The latest, on January 30, claimed the life of Sandbach girl Laura Jenkins, who died on a stretch near Leighton Hospital which remains 60mph.

The 18-year-old's death triggered further calls for speed cameras and for the whole route, from Nantwich to Middlewich, to be cut to a 40mph limit.

Flowers, teddies and cards still cover a hedge outside Leighton Hall Farm where Laura, driving towards Sand-bach in a Peugeot 106 and a Vauxhall Corsa being driven towards Nantwich by a 26 year-old Crewe man, were involved in a head-on collision. Their passengers survived.

Laura, who worked at Phones 4U in Crewe, was given an emotional funeral at St Mary's Church in Sandbach on Thursday.

Her father, Peter Jenkins, of Bradwall Road, Sandbach, is supporting the calls for safety action.

Crewe resident Judy Fox, who is spearheading the campaign, said: 'Speed cameras will protect people day and night from drivers who go too fast for the conditions.

'They will soon slow down when they start getting fines and penalty points.

'To say this road is 'too safe' for cameras is sheer madness.

'A year doesn't go by without someone being killed or seriously injured.'

Mrs Fox, Conservative campaigner for the St Barnabas ward, is to start a petition. She plans to set up tables in Crewe and Nantwich town centres to collect signatures.

Lee Murphy, project manager with Cheshire's Camera Safety Partnership, said the responsibility lay with drivers to slow down, especially on roads known to have a bad accident record.

He added: 'The A530 is a long route which is narrow and winding in parts and motorists should assess the road conditions and drive accordingly.

'There have been a number of traffic deaths, but not on any one particular segment which would mean it doesn't meet the criteria.

'Even if it did, there would have to be a speed survey to collate data on the number of people going over the speed limit before any decision could be made.'

There are currently 52 speed cameras spread across the county.

Mr Murphy added: 'People hate cameras and accuse us of putting them up to make money. The A530 shows this is not the case.'