Notices

Speedwatch

Could you volunteer to make Stretton’s roads safer?

Volunteers who help to make the Staffordshire’s roads a safer place have returned to the roadside.

Community Speed Watch volunteers are now back out in their local areas following the easing of Government lockdown restrictions and the completing of new risk assessments.

Speed Watch teams use hand-held radar equipment at pre-identified locations to check vehicle speeds. Registration numbers and makes of vehicles exceeding the local speed limit are recorded. These details are passed to Staffordshire Police, where they are then processed, and letters are issued.

Stretton is now looking to increase the small number of local residents who currently volunteer for Speed Watch. The group also needs a new volunteer co-ordinator to plan and arrange sessions, liaise with volunteers and send records from each session to the police.

If you’d like to volunteer, please call 01785 232702 or email csw@staffordshire.pnn.police.uk. Full training will be given.

Drivers found to be speeding are issued with a warning letter requesting that they slow down and observe the speed limit. If the same vehicle is caught again by any Community Speed Watch team, a follow-up final letter is issued.

If the vehicle is recorded speeding through any Speed Watch for the third time within 12 months, the background of the vehicle will be checked and information will be passed to the appropriate local policing team who will organise for the keeper to be visited and warned.

Areas where speeding issues remain may also be targeted for enforcement activity.

The aim of Speed Watch is to:

  • reduce death and injury on the roads
  • improve the quality of life for local communities
  • reduce the speed of vehicles to the speed limit
  • increase public awareness of inappropriate speed

Assistant Chief Constable Simon Tweats said: “The Community Speed Watch volunteers do a remarkable job by giving up their own time to help make the roads of Staffordshire a safer place to be – so we are delighted to have them back.”

Helen Fisher, Cabinet Member for Highways and Transport at Staffordshire County Council, said: “Giving volunteers the know-how and the tools to help reduce speeding has been a huge success, contributing to the safety of our roads.”