This in from the office of Simon Hayes, in their own words. Ed
Hampshire Police and Crime Commissioner, Simon Hayes, has pledged £135,000 over two years to encourage the expansion of the Community SpeedWatch programme across Hampshire and the Isle of Wight.
Alongside being dangerous, speeding can have a negative impact on quality of life on the communities of Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, especially in rural areas, which makes it one of the biggest community priorities.
Community working alongside police
Community SpeedWatch allows members of the public to work alongside the police by forming a SpeedWatch team to monitor the speed of traffic passing through their area.
The scheme is confined to approved 20 and 30 mph zones with a focus on prevention and education.
Simon Hayes said:
“Through my engagement with the public, speeding is often raised as a concern. Because of this I want to encourage local residents to take positive action by setting up a Community SpeedWatch in their area. They can do this by volunteering and taking action on the roads of concern in their neighbourhood.”
“SpeedWatch now forms part of the constabulary response to speeding issues and is the first tier in response to the problem. It’s not all about enforcement; it’s about prevention, education and awareness.”
Managed by the local Safer Neighbourhoods Team
Each scheme is managed by the local Safer Neighbourhoods Team (SNT) but is run by volunteers. Volunteers use equipment that monitors the speed of passing traffic, details of those breaking the speed limit are recorded and vehicle details added to a database. These details are then checked against the Police National Computer Bureau and letters can be sent out to the registered keeper of the offending vehicles.
All training will be provided and funding for the equipment to monitor speed, high visibility clothing for health and safety, signs and everything else needed to make it the scheme successful will be allocated from the Commissioner’s Commissioning Fund. The funding is allocated as match funding for the cost of setting up a Community Speedwatch scheme with a contribution of £1,000 per scheme.
Anyone interested in volunteering should first check that there isn’t a scheme already running in their area or neighbouring area. If there isn’t a scheme they should either contact their local SNT officers by phoning 101 or email [email protected]
Image: hursleyvillage under CC BY 2.0
