IN an effort to improve local road safety, Melksham Without Parish Council is looking at ways it can target speeding hotspots.
The council has requested enhanced powers to access and transmit data from the Speed Indicator Devices (SIDs) installed throughout the area directly to the police.
It will mean that the police would quickly be able to deploy extra resources and take action to combat speeding motorists.
Councillor Alan Baines, who chairs MWPC’s Highway Committee, expressed enthusiasm for the plan which follows a successful pilot scheme in Wiltshire in the first half of the year.
“There is now the option for data to be downloaded from SIDs and be sent directly to the police on a monthly basis,” he said. “This means that they can quickly deploy additional enforcement action to the sites that are speeding hotspots and see what time of day and when to target their efforts.”
The parish council deploys SID devices to speeding hotspots around the parish where high levels of speeding have been recorded and move them every fortnight. The current sites are in Beanacre, Shaw Hill, Corsham Road, Woodrow Road, and outside Melksham Oak Community School.
Cllr Baines continued, “These sites are also eligible for Community Speedwatch and if you are interested in becoming a volunteer and help reduce speeding where you live, please get in touch with the parish council. Full training is provided by the police on the use of the speed guns.
“Melksham Without Parish Council is taking the deployment of their SIDs to the next level and this ties in well with the latest Wiltshire Police campaign of the Fatal Five targeting the reduction of road casualties in the county.”
To address residents’ complaints about speeding in Bowerhill and particularly around Pathfinder Place, the Neighbourhood Police Team have also reported they will be increasing police presence in the area.
