Friday 10th February 2023
Warminster Town Council have issued the following press release:
Warminster Town Council is asking for local residents to volunteer to help tackle speeding traffic in the town. They would like people to sign up for training as a Community Speed Watch Volunteer.
Volunteers work closely with Community Policing Teams supported by the Special Constabulary Roads Policing Unit. Community Speed Watch only takes place where there is an identified speeding issue in a 20mph, 30mph or 40mph speed limits.
All volunteers are trained by Traffic Management Policing Officers to monitor traffic speed and must comply with a code of practice. All information recorded is passed to the police.
Community Speed Watch volunteers monitor vehicles from designated sites which have been risk assessed and approved by the police. Volunteers use a police approved hand-held speed detection device to check the speed of vehicles and any vehicles recorded driving over 24mph in a 20mph limit, over 35 mph in a 30mph limit, and over 46mph in a 40mph limit, are recorded on a monitoring sheet. The details recorded are time, date, site, vehicle body type (car, van, tractor, motorcycle etc), colour, registration and speed.
These details are sent to the Community Speed Watch administration team for processing. A PNC (Police National Computer) check is run on the vehicle and the registered keeper of the vehicle is contacted and a letter sent to the registered address. In cases where education is blatantly ignored and evidence of repeat or excessive offences is collated, then enforcement and prosecution follow.
The aim of the scheme is not to catch as many speeding drivers as possible, but to raise awareness that excessive speeds are socially unacceptable. It aims to reduce speed in areas of concern and address issues from communities by raising awareness.
Warminster’s Community Speed Watch Champion, Councillor John Syme said: “Speed kills. We know the police can’t monitor all the hot spots all of the time but community speed watch can make a real difference. We need a committed group of 6 or more people to get the scheme up and running in Warminster. It is noticeable that lots of villages run successful community speed watch schemes but towns struggle to get volunteers. The irony is there are probably more vehicles and more speeding in the towns. I appeal to people who can spare a few hours on a regular basis to put themselves forward.â€
If you are interested in taking part in Community Speed Watch please contact the Town Council.
