The Commissioner with police and volunteers in Henley-on-Arden. From left: Chair of Warwickshire Road Safety Partnership and Warwickshire Police and Crime Commissioner Philip Seccombe, Chief Inspector Faz Chishty, Community Speedwatch Volunteers John Clarke, Peter Glaze and Alison Owen.
Community Speed Watch activities in Warwickshire have received a boost thanks to the purchase of six additional LTI 100 20-20 Ultralite laser speed devices from £10k of funding from Warwickshire Police and Crime Commissioner Philip Seccombe’s Road Safety Fund.
Chief Inspector Faz Chishty said: “This year we have welcomed over 100 new Community Speed Watch volunteers, trained 93 and formed ten new Community Speed Watch groups at locations across the county including Wootton Wawen, Baginton, Wellesbourne, Newbold (Rugby), Henley-in-Arden, Tanworth-in-Arden, Earlswood, Radford Semele, Pillerton Priors and Hampton Lucy bringing the total to 56.
“This is great news and the purchase of the six new laser speed devices means they can be loaned to our new CSW groups to enable them to get up and running straight away. “
Henley-in-Arden CSW volunteer John Clarke said “The Speed of traffic travelling through our market town is a real concern for our local community. We are delighted to be working in unison with our local police force and have recently taken loan of a laser speed device. This will enable us to monitor vehicle speed and encourage drivers to slow down to protect the safety of our residents.
“We have also been working very closely with the Warwickshire Road Safety Partnership and our neighbourhood community of Wootton Wawen, to distribute communication material including SLOW DOWN bin stickers and posters to enforce this very important message. There are many other initiatives we are working on with the assistance of local and county representatives and we are making considerable progress to ensure Henley-in-Arden and Wootton Wawen are safer places to live and visit”.
One of the PCC funded loan speed devices
Chair of Warwickshire Road Safety Partnership and Warwickshire Police and Crime Commissioner Philip Seccombe said: “I am delighted to be able to provide the six new LTI speed lasers and we will continue to do everything we can to ensure that our CSW groups receive the support they deserve.
“Reducing speeding is a key priority for Warwickshire Road Safety Partnership and we are very grateful to all our Community Speed Watch volunteers who have stepped forward to address speeding in their local communities. These volunteers use their own time and as well as helping Warwickshire Road Safety Partnership to raise awareness of speeding, their visible presence reduces the speed of vehicles to the speed limit, improving the quality of life for local communities and most importantly helping to reduce death and injury on our roads.”
The new laser speed devices are now available for CSW volunteers to loan from December 2021. Over the longer term, the CSW group itself or the local parish council, will independently purchase the LTI Speed Lasers freeing up the ‘loan’ devices for new CSW groups.
About Community Speed Watch
Community Speedwatch (CSW) is a national initiative where active members of local communities join together to monitor speeds of vehicles in their local area with support from the police.
Any vehicles found to be exceeding the speed limit are referred to Warwickshire Police and receive a letter with the aim of educating drivers to reduce their speeds. However, in cases where education is ignored and there is evidence of repeat or excessive offences, even across county borders, enforcement and prosecution follow.
Volunteers receive appropriate training, and are supported by officers and staff including a Road Safety Officer who oversees the CSW groups.
The aim of CSW is to make our roads safer, and to ensure no CSW members or the public are put at risk, a full risk assessment is carried out for each group.
If you are interested in forming a CSW group in your area, please contact your local Safer Neighbourhood team. The details of your local SNT can be found by visiting www.warwickshire.police.uk and entering your location.
For more information about CSW please visit www.communityspeedwatch.org
For more information about road safety in Warwickshire please visit www.warksroadsafety.org and follow WRSP on social media on Facebook @WarwickshireRoadSafety and Twitter @WarksRoadSafety.
