Charlbury Community Speed Watch – 6 Monthly Review October 2018
Since March this year, our Community Speedwatch has run 18 sessions, during which we monitored over 3,000 vehicles in 6 locations around Charlbury. We have monitored the vehicles with a compact radar device, sponsored by the Charlbury Town Council, manned by teams of hard-working volunteers from around the town. The statistics are recorded automatically and show for this six-month period that almost exactly a third of those vehicles checked have exceeded the 30mph speed limit, with a maximum speed of 56mph recorded.
Our statistics for each session are forwarded to Thames Valley Police and also to the Charlbury Town Council. The Council forwards the figures to our District and County Councillors. As a result of our Speedwatch sessions during the past six months, Thames Valley Police have sent out over 300 warning letters. Once reported, vehicles are recorded on a national database and speeding offences anywhere else are added. After three reports, the Police may visit the driver and consider further action.
Although such action reinforces how seriously speeding is viewed, the prime intention of the Community Speedwatch Team sessions is to act as a deterrent, particularly in the interests of safety. We have been briefed on activity by other nearby Speedwatch Teams and in one location, the team is starting to see a reduction in speed after intensive activity on their part. We hope that our action will have a similar deterrent effect in Charlbury but realise that it would need a package of solutions, such as reduced speed limits and alterations to road layout, to more fully control speed. It seems that Charlbury is the crossroad for a number of routes. We are concerned that vehicles passing through at speed have an adverse safety and environmental impact on our residents.
The Charlbury Speedwatch Team will continue to operate during this winter, subject to weather. If you would like to know more or become one of our volunteers, please do contact us at this email charlburycsw@gmail.com. Finally, a big thank you to all those drivers who do drive considerately in Charlbury.
Charlbury Community Speedwatch · Tue 30 Oct 2018, 17:56 · Link