A LEADING politician today declared war on York's road humps - triggering a row over their safety record.

Tory hopeful Clive Booth called on motorists with "the hump" to text him directly with gripes about the controversial traffic obstacles.

But council chiefs leapt to their defence they said had been responsible for halving the number of accidents in the city.

Mr Booth, Conservative parliamentary candidate at the next election, told the Evening Press: "There's no statistical evidence to prove that they slow cars down and cause less accidents. So what are they there for?

"The vehicles we want to slow down are the ones that speed right over them.

"I don't think they are the solution to making York's roads safer and dispute whether they are the best way to reduce accidents.

"They are a cosmetic solution that does not work."

Mr Booth stressed that as a father of two young children, the "last thing" he wanted was for traffic to speed up.

Calling for motorists "with the hump" to text him on 07720 412 994, he said City of York Council should put a hold on any further humps until their safety record had been reviewed.

Mr Booth said other traffic calming measures should be considered, like intelligent lights, narrower roads and chicanes, as seen on Heslington Lane.

If elected, a Tory government would review the Government policy on speed humps. They say the best way forward is more traffic police rather than "artificial barriers".

But city council safety expert rejected Mr Booth's campaign.

Pete Zanzottera, road safety officer, maintained road humps did make a difference.

He said: "The latest research that we have got shows that where we have put them in there's a 50 per cent reduction in casualties."

But Mr Zanzottera stressed this was a reduction of an already small figure. And he said casualty rates were now minimal on estate roads where road humps dominate.

Most casualties were on main roads, he added, and he stressed emergency services in the city were fully behind the council's speed management plans.

He said the council had no big new safety schemes that required road humps. "We do get lots of requests from residents asking for them - but they don't seem to want them where they drive."

He said that the council was looking at new ways of calming traffic.

But he said if motorists drove at the speed limit or below, there would be no need for speed humps.

Updated: 10:11 Monday, March 21, 2005