About the Speedwatch Group
A personal point of view
A couple of months ago I had a chance conversation with Don, a parishioner, who lives, like me, on Taits Hill Road. We discussed the volume and speed of the traffic, both of which seemed to have increased in the past few years.
What to do?
I contacted the Parish Council and things took off from there. Kath Hudson has been extremely supportive and along with Trudy Chinn, Don, and myself we conducted traffic volume counts. There are approx 49,000 vehicles using Taits Hill Road each week. Staggering isn’t it?
The Next Step
The next step was to register us as a Community Speed Watch group, which I have now done. There is an online training test, after which the local police force contact you and practical training in the use of equipment takes place.
We are now looking for at least five other volunteers. Training is given which consists of
- Health and safety, concerning both the public and volunteers.
- There is emphasis on data protection.
- The need to educate not enforce is paramount.
- The data, which is speed recorded above the speed limit, is fed back to the police.
It all sounds quite intimidating, in reality it’s just common sense. It helped to give me a better understanding by watching YouTube videos of other speed watch groups in action, prior to the training.
So now we wait, governed by Corona virus and the availability of police officers to respond, I hope that will not be too long.
What we hope for
I was asked what we hoped to achieve. I suppose the answer has to be to save lives, educate, and hopefully create a calmer environment which is beneficial to all.
For me personally, I have always been active in the wider community, scouting, over many years, school governor, and at present league of friends at The Vale Hospital. I had also just started to help with art therapy for the stroke patients when the Corona virus stopped us in our tracks.
Let’s make a difference, however small.
Ava Walker
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