Community Speed Watch: June Report
Playing a crucial role to help keep our village safer for all road users
In case you wondered why a Community Speed Watch (CSW) team has appeared throughout Brailes regularly for the last 12 months the answer is simple – it’s because a number of motorists persist in failing to acknowledge the speed limit in a built-up area risking not only theirs’ but other peoples’ lives too.
According to the Department for Transport a safe road system is one that has an appropriate speed limit given the surroundings. This should be guided by the knowledge of the human body’s tolerance to external forces. DfT studies show that reductions in average speed result in substantial casualty reduction in the event of an accident. Vulnerable road users are at a particular risk from higher traffic speeds. The risk of a pedestrian being killed if hit by a car increases from 10% at 30mph to 70% at 50 mph.
Data relating to all vehicles that travel through Brailes is recorded by the two static cameras at either end of the village twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. The data shows that on average 48,000 vehicles travel through Brailes every month. 6500 of these are speeding which is more than 210 vehicles every single day. In the month of April alone, 110 vehicles were recorded exceeding 50 mph!
As the camera data shows, the vast majority of motorists do drive within the speed limit. However, it’s the drivers who ignore all the warnings and persistently exceed the speed limit who pose the greatest risk to life that the CSW team are trying to help make more aware of their speed and the potential consequences.
In recent weeks a couple of motorists have stopped and asked the CSW team what they are trying to achieve and why they operate where they do. So again it’s worth making clear the only reason CSW teams operate is because speeding continues.
The CSW team are unpaid village residents who volunteer their time freely in the hope of making these errant drivers be more conscious of their speed and adhere to the speed limit for the safety of everyone. Each volunteer is approved by Warwickshire Police and there are strict operational guidelines that are followed; including the number of volunteers that are required for each speed monitoring event, which is between 3 – 5. Each of the locations used has also been specifically determined by the Police with Google Map photographs showing exactly where the team must operate. As a result of this the Police can track the speeding data and take the necessary action; including visiting persistent speeders wherever in the Country they may live. The CSW team derive no pleasure out of monitoring vehicle speeds; the hope is that by being seen frequently, motorists become more conscious of their speed and drive accordingly.
The area around the Primary School in the village is the most worrying and action has been taken to look at all options to make this safer for children and parents to be able to walk to school and cross the road. More details of our proposed School Safety Zone along with other permanent traffic calming measures for the village will be announced very soon.
In the meantime the CSW team are doing a great job and would like to recruit more volunteers. If you can spare an hour or so a month and would like to join the CSW team or have any views on the speeding situation, please let us know by email to: brailesparishclerk@outlook.com. Your support and feedback would be most welcome.