Community Speedwatch Scheme in Wiltshire to reduce speeding and empower residents

Performance Indicators

By January 2011, 567 community speed watch sessions had been undertaken by volunteers in Wiltshire. This equates to 3,750 hours of volunteer time, including classroom and roadside training and collating returns to the community speedwatch coordinator. During the year, 3,970 speeding vehicles were reported by speedwatch volunteers and the police sent warning letters were sent to the registered owners of those vehicles. 109 vehicles were reported a second time and the police followed up with targeted action against persistent offenders. Figures in January 2011 demonstrated a 53% reduction in speeding across community speedwatch sites.

A later update showed that in December 2015, there were 140 Volunteer Teams active across Wiltshire and Swindon Counties with 765 volunteers carrying out regular speed checks on local roads. Wiltshire Council estimates that this represents 14,076 hours of volunteer-led speed reduction interventions between September 2013 and January 2016 with a monetary value of £112,608. Since September 2013, 44,910 warning letters have been sent to drivers identified by CSW volunteers as having exceeded local speed limits, and police officers have visited 4,211 homes to provide ‘words of advice’ directly to drivers who are either excessive speeders or repeat (three time) offenders. The whole ethos of CSW is to educate drivers and to avoid fines, red tape and the need for CSW volunteers to appear in court as witnesses. Figures released in 2014 showed that fatal and serious injuries associated with road traffic accidents (RTA) in Wiltshire had reduced by 35% when compared to the average between 2005-2009; the average for Great Britain during the same period was 22%. UK Government figures published in 2013 show that the total cost of serious and fatal RTAs in Wiltshire was £115,799,270, which indicates the importance of this local scheme.

Number of speeding issues reported

Number of residents trained in community speedwatch

Number of community speedwatch groups set up