Community Speedwatch Scheme in Wiltshire to reduce speeding and empower residents

Wiltshire Council has embarked on an ambitious plan to decentralise decision making and transfer power to local communities. One feature of this new local approach is the development of 18 area boards that bring together elected members, parishes, partners and local people to tackle local issues. To ensure the boards reflect the wider needs of the community there has been a strong focus on improving public participation, community engagement and social inclusion.

Community Speedwatch gives local people the power to tackle one of the biggest causes of concern in Wiltshire - speeding vehicles. Partnership working has been key to the success of the scheme with the council, police and local communities coming together to find new ways to tackle the problem.

This project has also been showcased by the BBC - click here to watch their report.

Wiltshire community speedwatch was developed in October 2009. It is a three year programme designed to provide a county-wide co-ordinated response to the issue of speeding traffic. Speeding is a subject of growing public concern - it is regularly raised at area board meetings right across the county. The high level of demand was picked up at the council’s area board meetings. As a result, the area boards team developed a bid for funding to support the development of a more comprehensive county-wide community speedwatch scheme.

The community speedwatch scheme was linked to two strategic objectives – building “resilient communities” (the volunteering element) and “safer communities” (tackling dangerous driving). The initiative was awarded £90,000 by the local council and in October 2009 the council, police and local volunteers started to set up a comprehensive community speedwatch scheme. 

Community speedwatch uses Wiltshire’s unique community issues system - an online system that allows local people and community groups to raise local issues directly with their area board. When a speeding issue is submitted, the community area manager checks if the site is already the subject of police enforcement or has previously been surveyed using a “metrocount” - "metrocount" is an electronic system used for traffic data collection and analysis. If not, the community area manager sends “metrocount” request forms and criteria to the parish council to return to the road safety unit for action. When the “metrocount” survey has been carried out the road safety unit produce a report which states whether the level of speeding justifies further action. The community area manager then sends the report to the parish council.

When an area is identified as suitable and safe for community speedwatch the parish council is asked to recruit community volunteers. The community speedwatch co-ordinator trains the volunteers to carry out roadside checks on the speed of vehicles. The volunteers are also supported by neighbourhood police teams.   Community volunteers record the speed and registration numbers of offending vehicles and the owners of speeding vehicles are sent letters by the police which draw attention to the offence and warn the driver of the consequences of excessive speeding.

The community speedwatch scheme has exceeded the original targets set for year one and is continuing to grow. It was anticipated that with the launch of the scheme, the number of speeding issues reported through the area boards community issues system would initially increase and then decrease as the scheme took effect.

“The scheme is beneficial - we are definitely slowing people down and they know we are out there. As the speed cameras have been taken away and the police enforcement teams are stretched, we need the ongoing support of the police and the council.”

Stan Bagwell, community speedwatch volunteer

From interviews with volunteers it is clear that there is enthusiasm for community speedwatch. This enthusiasm needs to be supported and maintained through improvements to the scheme. Volunteers have suggested the following improvements to the scheme, which are now being addressed by the project steering group:

• better signage in speed limit areas
• more speed guns
• a tape recorder to allow volunteers to record number plates
• greater flexibility in the choice of community speedwatch sites in each area
• the development of a community speedwatch website.

It is also important that data is collected and analysed at the beginning and end of each year at each community speedwatch site. This demonstrates the impact of the interventions at each site – something which is particularly important for volunteers

The scheme has also had a positive impact upon local residents, as demonstrated by the following quote:

“The yellow jackets are all over the place! It has to be having an effect on people like me. Now I allow a bit longer for my trip, which is good because I’m more relaxed and feel safer. It’s good to see people taking control of issues like this.”
A Salisbury resident

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

Wiltshire’s community speedwatch scheme has made a positive start and has resulted in enthusiastic and well targeted volunteer activity which has had a positive impact on speeding in Wiltshire. Volunteers have been consulted and asked to suggest improvements to the scheme and the steering group has started to act on their suggestions. As the steering group continues to act on volunteer’s suggestions the scheme will grow and build on the real success achieved so far.

Moving forward: Challenges to overcome

Throughout the first year of the project a number of challenges have been identified. The project has highlighted differences between local resident’s understanding of speed limits and police enforcement thresholds: local residents typically want enforcement at any speed over 30mph, whereas the threshold for police enforcement action begins at 36mph. This has required education and the development of options for those areas where speeding thresholds do not meet the criteria, for example speed awareness signage. Community speedwatch volunteers have themselves identified a need for further educational work around speeding. In the future the project could be extended to raise awareness of speeding by training young people in community speedwatch before they start driving and bringing community speedwatch groups into local schools. For more information about how to effectively increase awareness about the dangers of speeding and drink-driving please read this case study on the Close-To project from Austria. 

Another challenge is how to help parishes where the “metrocount” data does not support the introduction of Community speedwatch. A number of these parishes reported a high perception of speeding and some had already recruited volunteers for speedwatch before their eligibility for the scheme was established. It has been hard to maintain the goodwill and momentum of these volunteers. One way of maintaining momentum may be to allow volunteers to work at different sites. The disbandment of the camera safety unit meant that the project methodology had to be redesigned. Demand for metrocount strips is now being dealt with by the council. In some cases this has led to longer processing times. Demand for the resources needed to support the scheme, such as metrocount strips, speed indicator devices (SIDs), speed guns and speed limit stickers for residents to attach to wheelie bins has increased significantly. This has particularly been the case with SIDs, which are seen by local residents across as a very effective speeding deterrent. However, they are usually only deployed at sites of community concern which meet certain speeding thresholds and then only on a rota basis.  More needs to be done to promote the scheme and celebrate its achievements, particularly the valuable contribution of the volunteers to community safety. An event was held in April 2011 to acknowledge the contribution of volunteers and give them an opportunity to identify potential improvements to the scheme.

Read the BBC report on this project.