ATWORTH and Shaw & Whitley Community Speedwatch teams are appealing for volunteers in a bid to tackle excessive speed in the villages.
Community Speedwatch is a national initiative designed to allow local communities to assist the police in targeting the ever present problem of speeding through our towns and villages. This is carried out by teams of volunteers using a very accurate laser based speed recording device and Atworth is one of the smallest teams locally.
Alan Lee from Atworth CSW said, “We are always looking for more people to join us. The same is true of the Shaw & Whitley CSW team. Could you help? It isn’t onerous and there are no commitments. On each session a small team of two to four volunteers go out for about an hour. Volunteers do as much as they want, when they want.
“In addition to operating the speed device, any motorists found to be exceeding the prevailing speed limit are recorded, while a total count of vehicles passing through is also made. The details are passed to the police who validate them and send warning letters to the recorded owners of the vehicles. Excessive speeding or persistent offences can also result in a visit from the Wiltshire Police local Neighbourhood Police Tasking officer.”
Since the Wiltshire scheme was re-launched in September 2013 the 135 CSW teams in the county have achieved the following:
• Speeding vehicles recorded: 23,681
• Letters sent: 20,770
• NPT visits initiated: 423
The Atworth team was re-launched in April, since when they have recorded the following:
• CSW sessions carried out: 21
• Total vehicles counted: 11,224
• Vehicles speeding: 566
• Excessive speeding: 111
Alan added, “This shows that there is an ongoing problem along the A365, which is considerably above that of the average CSW scheme in Wiltshire. Had the Atworth CSW team been able to carry out more sessions, those numbers would have been much higher.
“The Shaw & Whitley CSW team has just started up again following a break while they didn’t have sufficient volunteers to be viable. So why not give it a go?”
If you are interested in joining either of these teams call their team leaders for more information:
Atworth: Alan Lee – 01225 709295 and Shaw & Whitley: Richard Bean – 01225 704778