Speedwatch Volunteers

This is a call for volunteers to assist us with monitoring the speed of vehicles within our parish.

People speeding on our roads is not only anti-social, but dangerous. Conversations are being had all over the parish everyday about the way people drive and the fact that people feel uncomfortable and worried about driving, walking or cycling on our roads due to the manner of some peoples driving, and especially while there are major diversions operating frequently on our roads locally.

There are generally 4 factors that contribute to people being killed or seriously injured in vehicle collisions, and it is speeding that we will concentrate on.

1. Speeding

2. Drink / drug driving

3. Using a mobile phone while driving

4. Not wearing a seat belt

It is easy to drive at speed, but stopping becomes an issue if the driver is not adequately trained and has a lawful reason to do so, such as the emergency services. Our roads have speed limits on them for a reason and they take into account hazards, such as built up areas where there may be pedestrians and schools or roadworks.

Some Statistics

Fatalities by road user type

The chart below shows fatalities for the year ending June 2022 for the 4 main road user types: car occupants, pedestrians, motorcyclists and pedal cyclists.

In the year ending June 2022, 45% of fatalities were car occupants, 24% were pedestrians, 20% were motorcyclists and 6% were pedal cyclists.

Of these 4 road user types:

• the biggest percentage change compared to year ending June 2019 was for pedestrians, which showed a 15% decrease.
• the other 3 road user types have returned to very similar fatality figures to pre-pandemic levels.

So volunteering to assist with Speedwatch is not about being a 'busy body' it is about helping the local authorities and the Police to keep our roads safe and we all have some horror stories where we know somebody who has been in a serious crash or those of us who have had some very near misses while driving.

Research has shown that 80% of the risks taken are taken by 20% of the drivers. You can easily identify a driver normally by using the 3 categories below: 

Error makers: Those who don’t look (offending as a result of a mistake or error of judgement) 

Lapsers: Those who don’t think (offending as a result of lack of knowledge or information or a lapse in concentration) 

Violators: Those who don’t care about breaking social and legal rules (habitually offending as a result of selfishness and dangerous attitudes).

Nearly 2000 people were fatally injured last year and nearly 30,000 people seriously injured. All injuries on the roads of the UK was a staggering 138,000 people, from killed to minor injuries. Not only is this an eye watering number of people who should not have been hurt, but it also impacts on our insurance premiums. 

As former police officer I have far too often seen first-hand the devastation and the hurt that is caused to families and communities when somebody takes it upon themselves to drive badly. Most crashes could have been avoided! 

If you noticed I do not use the word accident. An accident is an unforeseen event, most crashes should have been foreseen and are not accidents and that is why there are laws to protect us on the roads. If people did drive sensibly and within the speed limit we could help reduce the number of people who are hurt on our roads.

If we monitor people’s speeds at various locations across our parish we can go some way to change the attitudes of that minority who put us and our friends and families at risk.

If you wish to volunteer please feel free to drop me a line at [email protected] and together we could make a very real difference. 

 

 

SPEEDWATCH

Borden Parish Council is seeking volunteers to carry out speed checks in the parish.

The Parish Council have been concerned for some time about speeding traffic in the Parish of Borden. We have some proposals for a solution and are urging KCC Highways to implement them as soon as possible.

In the short term there is a need to try and regulate traffic, travelling through the Parish, to keep to the statutory speed limits.

The Parish has had a Speedwatch scheme in place, but it has not been possible to implement the Speedwatch scheme as fast and as often as it would have liked.

Therefore, the Parish Council has decided to approach members of the community to see if someone would be willing to take up the volunteer role of coordinator for the Speedwatch scheme, within the Parish. The operation of the scheme is funded by the Parish but volunteers who take the speed checks are not paid.

The coordinator would be involved in liaising with the Police to select suitable sites, appointing individuals to these sites, ensuring operation of speed checks go ahead in a safe environment and recording information and passing on the information.

The Parish is therefore asking through social media if a resident of the Parish, is interested in becoming the Speedwatch coordinator.

If you are interested please email the Clerk at [email protected].

For more information see the website .https://www.communityspeedwatch.org/