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GREAT ASHFIELD COMMUNITY SPEED WATCH TEAM
In 2017 in response to the ever increasing volume and speed of traffic on the roads through the village Great Ashfield Parish Council established a Community Speed Watch team which works very closely with the Police. In addition to our Community Engagement Officer (CEO), Stefan Henriksen (see his contact details on our 'Suffolk Police & Neighbourhood Watch page), there is a dedicated Community Speed Watch team based in Lowestoft and Great Ashfield Community Speed Watch is managed by Sergeant Wright of the Lowestoft team.
In 2019, celebrating 10 years of Community Speed Watch in Suffolk, an article in the East Anglian Daily Times highlighted how effective and widespread Community Speed Watch is within the County www.eadt.co.uk/news/driver-speed-warning-letters-have-desired-effect-for-police-and-2537882
As a result of COVID restrictions all Community Speed Watch teams in Suffolk were forbidden to hold any sessions for the 12 months from April 2020 to March 2021. Following the easing of lockdown Community Speed Watch teams were given permission to restart monitoring sessions.
Today in Great Ashfield Community Speed Watch continues to be an important means of monitoring and educating speeding motorists.
How Community Speed Watch Works
There is no "punishment" for Community Speed Watch, seeing people on the roadside is intended as a visual deterrent, and is often enough to persuade people to amend their conduct. Community Speed Watch is an educational scheme, and is not there to punish as legislation does not permit this.
In July 2021, Great Ashfield Parish Council funded the purchase of a new Bushnell speed gun with startling results. The number of vehicles reported for speeding since then has increased significantly.
During a Community Speed Watch session the team records details of speeding vehicles, this data is then passed to the Police who do the necessary checks. On no more than 2 occasions the Police will issue a letter to the keeper. If there is a 3rd recorded occasion of speeding or if the speed recorded exceeds 50mph in a 30mph limit, the keeper will be referred to a local Safer Neighbourhood Team or Community Engagement Officer who will visit the individual concerned and give them some advice.
If a motorist continues to be problematic, then the Safer Neighbourhood Team, Roads Policing Team or Community Engagement Officer may decide that they need to position themselves in the right place at the right time (if there is a pattern) and deal with the motorist officially. If they are exceeding the speed limit they can then be prosecuted for their actions.
Further information on Community Speed Watch can be found on the Suffolk Police Website www.suffolk.police.uk/join-us/volunteers/community-speed-watch .
Great Ashfield Statistics for September and October 2021
Statistics for Community Speed Watch sessions for September and October 2021 are available by clicking the relevant link on the left, this data shows that during these months the total number of vehicles reported to the police for speeding was 132, with 123 letters sent out. The difference is down to unclear ownership of the vehicle.
Volunteers Urgently Required
If you are interested in joining the Great Ashfield Community Speed Watch team you would be made very welcome - currently we cover Great Ashfield and Long Thurlow. Please email the Parish Clerk on greatashfieldpc@outlook.com for further information.
Other Initiatives to Combat Speeding- Suffolk County Council ANPR project
Great Ashfield Parish Council has recently applied to join Suffolk County Council's (SCC) Automatic Number Plate Recognition project. Essentially this is similar to an automated Community Speed Watch. SCC has invested in a number of ANPR devices which will at various times be positioned on a suitable roadside pole within a village. The ANPR device offers 24 hours a day, 7 days a week monitoring for the period of time in which the device is deployed within the village.
As with Community Speed Watch this project is an educational scheme. These devices record registration numbers, which are downloaded by the SCC and then sent by them to the Police in order to obtain the relevant data of the keeper.
This is given to the SCC under an official sharing agreement and they will send out letters. This is an SCC initiative and the Police provide only the keepers details. SCC will send out up to 2 letters and if there is a third occasion a motorist could be one of the top 15 highest speeds/repeat offenders SCC can choose each month. These are sent to the Police, who will then allocate an officer to visit that person who will be given words of advice about their conduct.