[Closed] Has anyone any experience with community speed watch schemes

When the A68 was shut and the volume of traffic coming through our village increased we all took it in turns to park on the main road. Physical chicanes seemed to be the only thing that actually worked. Also, see if you can nab some cones from somewhere and make more, Corden off so drain covers or something, it'll take the council a week or so to notice and remove them and they'll get bored of doing that eventually

I dont have any answers, but its exactly the same issue in semi-rural bucks since the end of the first lockdown- 30mph through our small town has become 50mph unless there is a speed camera or physical obstruction. In addition, every other t0sser seems to have upgraded their exhaust or got a 'remap' to fart and bang alternately as they accelerate and brake. Ive also noticed in the evening after rush-hour, its the same individuals driving round for fun at ridiculous speeds.

Have you written to the Police, individually rather than as a small group of villagers, and if so, what was their response.

We contacted our local PCSO and had a word with him at a community meeting.
He said we could have access to a camera but 2 residents would need to be trained to use it and put the registration details and speed into the police computer. This would then issue warning letters.
The first problem was that one of the residents names would appear on the letter. We do have a number of violent criminal people living in this area but 2 residents did go through the process.Other residents can assist to take the registration numbers.
The camera was duly delivered but unfortunately one of the trained volunteers died from Covid so has had little use.
If residents can get,I believe,25% of vehicles breaking the limit then the police would come along with an enforcement camera that could issue fines.The local council were not interested as there had been no serious accidents or deaths.
We did have a motorcyclist who lived down the road doing horrendous speeds,90mph plus in a 40. We couldn't even read the reg number it was that fast.He would turn round and ride back shouting abuse at neighbours who were trying to get him to slow down.We identified his address and the Police had a word.
Last time I saw him he was on crutches.

This may cause friction down the road but provided you can source a high-vis jacket and a hairdryer you can have a remarkable effect on average traffic speeds through your village once the word spreads.

The trick is to stand semi-hidden and spring out with your "speed gun" at the point where it's too late for them to slow down. If you have an off-camber slippery bend that you can do this on then so much the better. Post on YouTube.

My step dad has got involved with a community speed trap which their neighbours instigated with the Police. Need training and gear with road signs. Welsh police have an online reporting system (gosafe.org). They have been doing it about 6 months, in a 40 mph zone that 2 years ago was a NSL 60, where 2 serious crashes had happened in the last 5 years (cars through / over walls). Police are supportive but there is actually very limited action that can be taken.

Mostly it's repeat offenders. Letters are sent when excessive speed or repeat offenders via the Police as a warning. The Police may set up a mobile camera soon. The neighbour most involved keeps a spreadsheet and now has bought a GoPro type camera on his chest to have back-up evidence of speeds (as cars approach he says the reg number and speed reading out loud with description of the driver) and of abuse. Only a handful of times but has had verbal abuse from repeat offenders and once had guy stop and get out to verbally abuse. They've found people driving at 80 mph at times. Problem is that minority of arseholes will continue to be arseholes. So only volunteer if you can cope with fact that a minority of worst offenders just don't care about anyone else / their community and while on average you may get speeds down, some people may choose to abuse you for interfering in their day.

The trick is to stand semi-hidden and spring out with your “speed gun”

Kinky.

Yeah, I have done it. My previous house was in a village on b road that used to be a trunk road in previous years. But when it was de trunked nothing physical changed just a speed limit reduction to 40. The width of the road and sight lines were good for 60. So obviously some folk see fit to do 70 or 80 through the village.

Anyway to keep it brief, we formed a group with the support of the local councillor and held community events to gather evidence for a community highways scheme. The evidence included data from loops in the road, community speed watch (we had police training for this) and resident feedback. We then proposed a scheme to respond to this that included narrower lanes, wider footways, redesigned junctions, pinch point crossings, signage etc. This went into our application to the council and we got most of it funded to be built this financial year.

So community speedwatch is only a part of it and mostly evidence gathering really... but it does work.

You should look at what you can achieve with a community highways scheme application. Ie real physical changes.

Kinky

It's the high viz that does it for me, actually.

We did have a motorcyclist who lived down the road doing horrendous speeds,90mph plus in a 40. We couldn’t even read the reg number it was that fast.He would turn round and ride back shouting abuse at neighbours who were trying to get him to slow down.We identified his address and the Police had a word.
Last time I saw him he was on crutches.

Over zealous policing?

I saw him on crutches stood beside the crumpled front end of his car. I think the residents would have been happy with a bit more " forceful " police action.

My Dad got involved for a short while doing the speed gun. Abuse very day. A couple were reported to the Police, but the Police could not do anything as they just denied it, and calling someone a '....ing w...er' is hardly a major crime.
Many Cars did not slow down, in fact they reckoned some youngsters actually sped up to see who could go through the fastest. They cannot prosecute, so all the Police can do is send a letter saying 'slow down'. He gave it up as a total waste of time and effort.
Parking on both sides of the road is a better suggestion, as above.

Re abuse etc. Yeah you might get one or 2 giving some gestures. You just record it. Sometimes folk stop and get a bit heated but no one is getting out of their vehicles and getting lairy. Just keep your cool. Ultimately if you are motivated to do it, you won't care if the occasional muppet gets a bit verbal. You might even enjoy the sport.. 😉

But what you mostly get is locals giving support and sometimes volunteering too. It only takes a few folk to get stuff started to then pull the rest along.

Have any of you been featured in APILN?

Thanks all!

@squirrelking - i had to google APLIN - what a find!! 🙂

The Police have pretty much said that they aren't interested at the moment. I presume we'll have to provide some more info and incidents other than some old folks losing their wing mirrors - so they've parked right up on the pavement so anyone with a pram has now walk in the road.....couple that with speeding cars, it wont be long before the police will be interested! 🙂

An argumentative retiree has picked it up now who loves a good ding dong, so i shall sit back and watch until i'm required!!

This may cause friction down the road but provided you can source a high-vis jacket and a hairdryer you can have a remarkable effect on average traffic speeds through your village once the word spreads.

It may also find you up before the judge for illegally impersonating a police officer.

The cones idea above (and placing physical obstacles etc) is not a bad one. There’s a village south of me down the Wells Road (A37) which had some cones put around a drain cover, thereby creating a slight chicane at a point where people often start to speed up out of the village, or slow down too late coming in. I assumed it was some kind of roadworks but after a few weeks, copped that they’d been put there by a local and just left in place. Unbelievably effective!

Police are supportive but there is actually very limited action that can be taken.

Frustrating considering the clearly defined laws around motoring and the fact that many of us will have picked up courses or points for 36mph in a 30 zone.

The village I grew up in and my dad still lives in is unfortunately a rat run. There's a 20mph which is largely ignored, even at primary school pick up and drop off, total chaos sometimes.

The parish council had one of those signs installed that tells you how fast you're going and gives you a sad face if too fast. They move it periodically to different locations. It actually records all the speeds and they publish the data in the parish magazine. Most people do 20-30 mph, but there's been some crazy speeds recorded. There's no enforcement though.

The most effective methods have already been mentioned above. When it's time for the scarecrow festival, the "hi-viz holding a hair dryer scarecrow" comes out and is super effective. Stays out for a long time that one.

And residents on the main road park really really badly on purpose. I'm not sure if that's good really, it does slow people down but can really foul up the traffic, then you end up with impatient dickheads squeezing through gaps or just booting it when they get let through.