COMMUNITY SPEED WATCH IN SADBERGE

PC Julian Brown and a Sadberge volunteer checking speeds on Norton Road

A brief history of Community Speed Watch in Sadberge

Vehicles speeding in Sadberge was one of the top problems identified in the Sadberge Parish Plan 2007.  78% of responses to the Parish Plan questionnaire identified traffic speed as a major or significant problem.

When Sadberge won the Calor North England Village of the Year award in 2008 the Parish Council investigated the possibility of using the prize money to buy a speed-sensing "30 mph – Slow down" sign.  However, Darlington Borough Council's Highways Department was not happy at the prospect of allowing other organisations to install and maintain equipment on the public highway.

At the inaugural meeting of the North Villages PACT (Partners and Communities Together), Sadberge residents again nominated traffic speed as a top priority for action.  Our Neighbourhood Beat Officer, PC Julian Brown, responded by working with local volunteers to run a number of Community Speed Watch sessions in Sadberge, and the results confirmed that there was a high level of speeding in the village's 30 mph zone.

As a result of the data provided by the initial Speed Watch sessions, speeding enforcement in Sadberge was made a priority for the Road Policing Unit (i.e. patrol cars), and during a 6-week campaign during May and June 2010 they issued 27 endorsable fixed penalty notices (i.e. speeding tickets!).

The Speed Watch sessions have a clear – and positive! – effect on driver behaviour, but PC Julian Brown will only be able to do a limited number of these sessions in Sadberge.  (He has other priority tasks, and other villages also want him to do Community Speed Watch sessions on their problem roads.)  We therefore suggested running more frequent 'volunteer-only' Speed Watch sessions to support the 'police presence' sessions.  After some initial concerns, Durham Constabulary gave their support – at the highest level – for this idea, and made arrangements for Sadberge to pilot a 'volunteer-only' Community Speed Watch scheme.

After the volunteers had gone through the police vetting process and the necessary training, Sadberge's "volunteer-only" Speed Watch sessions started on Friday 17th September 2010.

During the first three sessions, the following numbers of vehicles were recorded to be doing at least 5 mph over the speed limit:-

How Community Speed Watch works

During a Community Speed Watch session a speed indication device (SID) is used to measure and display the speeds of passing vehicles.  The people manning the session record the details – including registration numbers – of vehicles exceeding the speed limit.  If a police officer (or PCSO) is present then the owners of the recorded vehicles get a warning letter from the police, and vehicles caught speeding several times may end up getting 'targeted' by theroad traffic police cars.  No letters are sent out after a 'volunteer-only' Community Speed Watch session, but all the data is passed to the police for their records.

It is important to note that Community Speed Watch is about education and encouragement rather than enforcement.  This is not about getting people speeding tickets and points on their driving licences.  We just want drivers to observe the 30 mph speed limit as they travel through our village.

Record of Community Speed Watch sessions in Sadberge

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