Brailes Road Safety Improvement Plan

-> OUR CROWD-FUNDING APPEAL

(https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/brailes-school-safety-zone)

If you are able to help us improve the safety of everyone but especially our next generation, please do get in touch by email to:  brailesparishclerk@outlook.com. 

Brailes Road Safety Improvement Plan

As has been reported many times, speeding is a serious problem in the village and so it is good to report that progress to address the problem is now being made. 

The area around the Primary School is the most concerning where children are constantly being put at risk crossing the road.  The School has reported several near-miss accidents in recent times where it’s been more luck than judgement that a child has not been seriously injured crossing the road outside the school gates!

We have worked with the School throughout the process and our School Safety Zone project is the culmination of research combined with their suggestions on what needs to be done, so a big thank you to all the children, the parents and of course to Mrs Childs and her team for their enthusiastic support. Here is a reminder of some of the children’s ideas:

How can we fund the project?

In April we were made aware of a ‘Highways Community Action Fund’. This is a Government funded grant that local Councils have available to use to support towns and villages improve road safety and reduce potential serious injuries and death from road traffic accidents. We submitted a claim for this grant which has been approved, subject to the Councils’ audit checks and agreement. The grant supports up to 50% of the cost of the project.

The estimated total cost of implementing our School Safety Zone could be c£40k.

– 50% of this would be covered by the HCAF grant = £20k.

– The balance of £20k is what we are now working on.

The Parish Council will provide some financial support of course, plus we have the opportunity to look to our village business owners to help. We are also planning on holding lots of different events, like cake stalls, book sales, raffles, etc. etc. Donations are already underway.

We now have a Brailes School Safety Zone crowdfunding page where donations from businesses, sponsorship events and from the public can be made to support this cause, which of course will be greatly appreciated.

Please follow this appeal link below to check our progress and kindly make your donation:

-> OUR CROWD-FUNDING APPEAL

(https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/brailes-school-safety-zone)

If you are able to help us improve the safety of everyone but especially our next generation, please do get in touch by email to:  brailesparishclerk@outlook.com. 

In case you wondered why the Community Speed Watch (CSW) team continues to monitor vehicle speed in Brailes the answer is simple – it’s because a number of motorists persist in exceeding the speed limit in a built-up area risking not only their lives but others too. 
 
Data from the static speed cameras show that on average, 50% of all vehicles that travel through Brailes exceed 30mph. 
 
Children and vulnerable road users are at a particular risk from higher traffic speeds. Data from the Department for Transport shows the risk of a pedestrian being killed if hit by a car increases from 10% at 30mph to 70% at 50 mph. The area around the Primary School in the village is the most worrying and action is being taken to look at the options to make this safer for children and parents to be able to walk to school and cross the road. 
 
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. Feedback from villagers is always welcome and the vast majority that we receive is constructive and positive, because they acknowledge the problem and support what the CSW team is doing.

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 traffic 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,which we trust all villagers appreciate. 
 
However, it is totally unacceptable for anyone in the team to be threatened or intimidated. Warwickshire Police want to know if this happens because they not only endorse what the CSW team is doing, they also provide details of who to contact should anyone feel the need to question why speed monitoring is necessary.

If you wish to support our road safety endeavours in any way please feel free to get us touch with us by emailing the CSW team via  brailesparishclerk@outlook.com. 

The persons you have approached are operating with the support of Warwickshire Police as Community Speed Watch Volunteers.

They are obliged to report to the police any threats, acts of intimidation or violence towards them.

They are also under instruction not to get involved in any disputes over their activity.

If you wish to raise any issues regarding this matter, please contact me on the telephone number or email address below.

Many people die on Warwickshire roads each year and many more suffer from serious, life changing injuries. The department for Transport has identified the main contributory factor in over 30% of fatal collisions as being excessive or inappropriate speed.

Community Speed Watch supports the police by monitoring the speed of vehicles through local communities. It is an opportunity for communities to engage in a local problem, increase public awareness of inappropriate speed and improve the quality of life in their community.

Community Speed Watch volunteers do not enforce the law, but those identified as exceeding the limit can expect to receive an advisory letter from the police.

Yours faithfully
Gary Strain
Road Safety Officer
Road Safety Unit
Tel: 01788 852004
Email: gary.strain@warwickshire.police.uk

The Community Speed Watch (CSW) team continue to be active throughout the village with the sole objective of reminding drivers to be more conscious of their speed. During July the CSW team held a Speed Monitoring event 5 times with 6 more ‘events’ scheduled during August. Almost 400 vehicles have been reported to the Police for excessive speeding during Speed Monitoring events held so far this year. Many are repeat offenders!

Even more serious is the overall number of speeding vehicles recorded by the static speed cameras. Located at either end of the village the cameras record vehicle speed 24/7 and the data collected from the cameras show around half of all vehicles entering and leaving the village exceed 30mph.

As was shared last month, more permanent Traffic Calming measures to address the ongoing risk of another serious road traffic accident was one of three key topics presented at the Brailes village meeting on the 13^th of July. Details of our proposed Road Safety Improvement Plan including a ‘School Safety Zone’ and locations of other permanent traffic calming measures were discussed and received unanimous support from members of the public that attended. Details of our plan can be found on the Brailes Village website. 

Obviously the ‘School Safety Zone’ is at the heart of our village plan and so we will continue to engage with the staff, parents and children at the school to ensure we do everything possible to make it as safe as possible for all concerned.  Apart from our plan for school flashing signs and a raised zebra crossing to forcibly reduce traffic speed, there are other things we could do in the meantime. This includes the possibility of inviting a Police Road Safety Officer to attend the school to help make the children more aware of the dangers crossing the road. 

We could also potentially reduce the inherent risks of vehicle parking on the road near the school at drop-off and collection times. As a reminder, drivers are encouraged to use the Village Hall car park as the default place to park and more safely deliver and collect their children from the school. It must be noted however, there will be occasion when the Village Hall is being hired at these times and therefore may not be freely available. On these occasions parents will need to resort to parking safely somewhere else until we find a better solution.

As you may have seen in last months’ Feldon News report, the children themselves have made it very clear they want us to reduce traffic speed and provide them with a safer place to cross the road.

These were just some of their ideas:

Road Safety Improvement Plan – update

Discussions have already taken place with Warwickshire County Council regarding our village Road Safety Improvement Plan and whilst there are several challenges we face to comply with DfT Highways regulations, including consultation with all ‘Blue Light Service’ vehicles, we will continue to do all that is necessary to follow this through to improve road safety in the village as quickly as possible. 

The good news is that we have received recent confirmation that in principle, our application for a Government grant that will contribute up to 50% of the cost of such road safety measures has been approved. For our part of the costs, we are preparing a fund-raising programme that will include a proposition to be presented to local businesses that allows them to contribute towards the balance of costs and be associated with our School Safety Zone plan. We will continue to update our progress in future editions of Feldon News.

If you wish to support our road safety endeavours in any way please feel free to get us touch with us by emailing the CSW team via  brailesparishclerk@outlook.com.