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Camera to deter drivers flouting yellow box rules

Google View of a crossroad junction, showing the central yellow hatched area. There are traffic lights with stationary traffic including two white vans and a number of cars. To the left of the road directly ahead is a large building with white plaster upper storey and brick ground floor, and to the left a two-storey brick building with a number of windows. Terraced residential properties line the road stretching into the distance.Google
The junction has high levels of traffic, especially during commuting times

A camera is being installed at a busy junction to crack down on drivers breaking yellow box rules.

Durham County Council said drivers had been causing obstructions at the junction at Neville's Cross by stopping vehicles where they should not.

According to The Highway Code motorists should only go into the boxes when their exit lane is clear, unless they are prevented from turning right by oncoming traffic.

An Automatic Number Plate Recognition will monitor the area and those caught out will be issued with a £70 penalty notice.

The initiative is being funded by councillors Elizabeth Scott and Liz Brown, who each contributed £10,655.50 through their Area Action Partnership (AAP) neighbourhood budgets.

Craig Morgan, Durham County Council's AAP coordinator, said: "Stopping in the yellow box junction can contribute to traffic jams as well as block important blue light routes for emergency services.

"This initiative aims to improve the traffic flow of this area by discouraging the number of drivers stopping in the junction and obstructing it for other road users.

"It will also help protect pedestrians crossing, particularly during times when there are a high volume of families and school children using them."

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