Highways bosses in Wolverhampton are set to introduce an 'Average Speed Enforcement' (ASE) ruling for the city in a bid to reduce the number of road traffic collisions and casualties.

Once developed and implemented, the scheme will be rolled out across the West Midlands in partnership with Dudley, Sandwell and Walsall councils.

In 2017 there were 2,105 road crashes resulting in personal injuries to 2,916 people, with 418 of these incidents causing serious personal injury and 24 people losing their lives.

Head of City Transport for Wolverhampton, John Roseblade said: "In addition to this there has been increasing levels of anti-social behaviour such as car cruising which has adversely impacted on our communities.

"Looking at Wolverhampton over the same period, there were 503 road traffic collisions resulting in personal injuries to 684 people, with 84 of these casualties suffering serious personal injury and one person being killed.

The speed cameras that can see if you are wearing your seat belt

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"Considering the tragic impact that these unnecessary injuries cause to our families, community and local economy, the council takes its road safety responsibility very seriously, implementing a wide range of engineering and education schemes to address road safety problems throughout the year.

"However, a cornerstone to managing and reducing road traffic collisions is speed enforcement.

"West Midlands Police currently undertake mobile speed enforcement at specific locations across the network, although it is recognised that this is at a low level and infrequent.

"The phased introduction of average speed enforcement across the Black Country will raise the profile of this important tool to assist in reducing casualties and anti-social behaviour across the area," he added.

In order to continue with the implementation of the system, approval is now required to develop collaboration agreements with the other Black Country authorities to manage the design and introduction of the scheme.

As part of the development of the project, a number of specific busy routes have been selected for targeting.

Currently under consideration are the Wolverhampton A449 Stafford Road and A4444 Black Country New Road; the Walsall A34 Birmingham Road and A4148 Broadway North and A41 Black Country New Road from Moxley to Dangerfield; the Sandwell A34 Birmingham Road and A4123 Birmingham New Road; the Dudley A4123 Birmingham New Road and A458 Lye bypass.

"Funding has been identified to implement the infrastructure required to deliver ASE by each of the other Black Country authorities, hopefully by the end of March 2019," added Mr Roseblade.

The council is looking to approve an overall budget of £755,000 for the scheme. Wolverhampton's investment will be £150,000. The city's Full Cabinet Committee is set to discuss the plans this week.