Radford Semele Community Speedwatch
Community Speedwatch is a national initiative whereby proactive volunteer members of local communities, with the support of the local police, record details of speeding vehicles using an approved detection device. Registered owners of vehicles exceeding the speed limit are contacted by letter warning them of the consequences of speeding with repeat offenders receiving a “knock on the door” from a Police Officer irrespective of where in the country they live. The whole exercise is designed to raise awareness of the consequences of speeding and act as a deterrent against breaking speed limits.
In the winter of 2020, Radford Semele Parish Council voted to set up a local scheme with the aid, support and advice of PSCO Ed King (aka “our local bobby” and a member of the Safer Neighbourhood Team) and the Warwickshire Police Road Safety Unit.
We currently have a team of eleven volunteers (including three Parish Councillors). Three of us are trained as Team Leaders and qualified to operate the LASER speed measuring instrument with a further four volunteers about to receive training at the time of writing (mid-June 2022). The Parish Council has funded the purchase of our own instrument – an Ultralyte 100 ™ LASER hand held unit and also a mounting tripod so we are not dependent on borrowing an instrument from the police.
Speedwatch activities were suspended nationally during the worst of the COVID-19 crisis but were restarted mid-2021. Since that time, we have conducted some thirty roadside sessions at various locations in the village recording the speed of around 150 vehicles per session. Vehicles caught speeding at 35 mph or more (in a 30 mph zone) are recorded and the details submitted directly to West Midlands Police Traffic Division. We typically record between three and eight speeders per session, the record being seventeen in a single session early in June 2022. On occasion, reported vehicles are found to not have a valid MoT test or the drivers are uninsured. In these cases, the consequences are rather more severe!
In order to field teams even more regularly, we actively seek further volunteers so if you can spare an hour or two of your time during the day on a semi-regular basis, please contact Councillors Roger Munn or Jack Dempsey on speedwatch@radfordsemelepc.org.uk for more information.
Councillor Roger Munn June 2022