Ten new Community Speed Watch groups are welcomed to Warwickshire

Warwickshire Police was delighted to welcome 56 new Community Speed Watch volunteers alongside existing volunteers to a Community Speed Watch training course held at Wolston Community and Leisure Centre on Monday, 5 July 2021.

These new volunteers boost the number of Community Speed Watch groups monitoring speeds in local communities in Warwickshire to 56.

The ten new groups include Wootton Wawen, Baginton, Wellesbourne, Newbold (Rugby), Henley, Tanworth, Earlswood, Radford Semele, Pillerton Priors and Hampton Lucy.

During the day the volunteers learnt how to calibrate and use the LTI 100 20-20 speed detection devices to get them ready to conduct roadside speed checks as soon as possible in their local communities.

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. Volunteers also receive a comprehensive health and safety briefing to ensure they are as safe as possible whilst checking driver speeds on Warwickshire’s Roads.

CI Faz Chishty said “The feedback from the event has been extremely positive. This is a huge boost for CSW in the county and the volunteers who successfully completed the course have now bolstered the numbers of CSW volunteers who will be monitoring speeds in local communities across the county.”

Chris Lewis said ‘It was a pleasure to represent PCC Seccombe at the event and meet the volunteers. The PCC is totally committed to achieving safer roads in Warwickshire.

“We want less crashes and especially those that lead to death and catastrophic injury. Without doubt, speed kills and we need to maintain the pressure to get those who disrespect speed limits and take unnecessary risks to slow down. No one agency can do that on their own. It has got to be a partnership approach utilising various methods. In that respect Community Speed Watch has a vital role to play and we are grateful to the volunteers who are helping us in the mission of achieving safer roads in Warwickshire.”

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. In Warwickshire each group uses the LTI Speed Lasers independently purchased by either the group itself or the local parish council.

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.

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 https://www.communityspeedwatch.org