Speedwatch

Speedwatch in Meldreth

This summer Community Speedwatch teams in Meldreth carried out watches on six of our busy morning rush hour roads which carry traffic in, out and through the village. Along with teams from surrounding villages, the idea is to remind drivers to keep within the speed limit. For our roads that is 30 mph. Around 2,500 vehicles passed through our watches, usually over a two hour period. Overall, about 10% of vehicles were proceeding at more than 35 mph. That may not sound much but different roads yielded widely different averages from 5% to 20%. Average speeds beyond the limit ranged from 35 to 43 mph. Owners of those speeding vehicles receive cautioning police letters indicating the time, place and speed in excess of the limit. Should a vehicle speed through a watch three times or more the owner will receive a visit from a police officer. About 230 letters were sent out as a result of our watches. One speeding vehicle was observed three times by different watches triggering a letter to be hand delivered by an officer from the Police Safer Speeds Team. Our volunteer Community Speedwatch team clocked up 32 hours over 22 shifts, usually on two days per week. Over the last couple of years there has been a considerable increase in cyclists using our roads, so getting traffic to observe speed limits helps to reduce the potential for accidents and injury. If you are concerned about road safety in our village and would like to join the Meldreth Community Speedwatch team please contact us on csw.meldreth@btinternet.com.

Meldreth Community Speedwatch