A NEW speed camera that has the ability to detect seat belt and mobile phone offences has been installed along a Newton Abbot road.

Having engaged in consultation with Devon County Council, the Devon & Cornwall Police Road Safety Team have installed a trial speed camera on Ashburton Road, past the Bradley Barton junction, but before Here Park.

The trial camera is one of two being tested by the force.

The camera, which has Home Office Type Approval, is bi-directional, meaning it can capture drivers in both directions.

It will be going live ‘in the coming days’, the Devon & Cornwall Police Road Safety Team have said.

The location was identified due the presence of a play-park, children's centre and sheltered housing accommodation nearby, Devon & Cornwall Police Road Safety Team say.

‘Newton Abbot's two main secondary schools are also located further down towards the town centre’, the teams said in a post on its Facebook page.

‘There have been two serious injury collisions within 300 metres of the camera in the last four years.

‘The aim of this alert is to slow people down, and we will be delighted to see really low numbers of speeding offences when the camera is operational’, the team added.