Community Speed Watch

 Are you concerned about speeding in your local area?

Often motorists who speed through residential neighbourhoods are unaware of the impact their actions have on other road users or the danger they pose and speed checks often show that those exceeding the speed limit are local to the village or surrounding area.

 What is Community Speed Watch?

Speeding is a community problem and Community Speed Watch enables local people to get actively involved in road safety and helps encourage drivers and motorcyclists to watch their speed and keep to the limit. Community Speed Watch is a partnership initiative operating in Northamptonshire using the combined efforts of the local Police, County Council and local residents, in association with Northamptonshire ACRE (Action with Communities in Rural England). The scheme aims to help tackle the problem of speeding in local communities and, thus, to improve the quality of life. Over 40 villages, including Hartwell, have already benefited from this scheme across the county.

Implementation

Having gained the local support and commitment necessary Hartwell Parish Council Community Safety Group were successfully received into the scheme in 2006 and have had teams operating the speed gun on a rotation basis for 3 seperate sessions over the past 3 years with between 8 and 12 volunteers who were trained in the use of the speed gun. Working in pairs at pre-selected locations, the volunteers monitored the traffic through the village and write down details of those vehicles exceeding a prescribed speed.  Completed forms are forwarded on a regular basis to the Police where the identities of the registered keepers can be established. Letters are then sent out, under Police headed paper, to the registered owners explaining a little about the scheme and requesting that they keep to the speed limit in future. A second, more strongly worded letter is sent if they fail to adjust their speed on a subsequent occasion. Continued ignoring of the speed limit may lead to targeted enforcement and possible prosecution by a member of the Safety Camera Team/ Northants Police.

Additional benefits

In addition to the active monitoring of speeds through the use of laser speed guns, we also receive:

Deployment of portable speed indicator devices to measure speeds before and after local speed monitoring.

High visibility Community Speed Watch boards for erection on lamp posts.

Educational literature for local residents explaining the scheme

Visits from the Safety Camera Team

HOW CAN YOU HELP?

The 2009-2010 project has finished but we are looking for volunteers for the next cycle.  You would need to be available to be trained on the operation of the Speed Gun and to then be part of the rotation team to monitor the traffic.  If you would like to help make a difference and you are able to spare a couple of hours during the day/evenings we would love to hear from you!  Please contact the Parish Clerk if you are interested in volunteering for the program when it resumes.

clerk@hartwellparish.co.uk

A NOTE FROM NACRE!

Beth Milne the Rural Officer for Northants ACRE who runs the schme is proud to announce that the Community Speed Watch team were presented with an Impact Award in October '09 from the Casualty Reduction Partnership in recognition of their efforts to reduce road casualties across the county.

RESULTS!

Results from the latest program will be available soon!