Glossop SNT - Community Engagement Event 

PCSO Buller and Mrs Brenda Smith representing the Hadfield Community Speed Watch Volunteers team attended Derbyshire Constabulary Police Headquarters, with regard to the Community Speed Watch Conference held there on Saturday 1st March.

This was an opportunity for teams from across the county to meet up and discuss the impact and the reason why education rather than enforcement aids in compliance with speed limits. The acknowledgement that local volunteers who give up their free time can help reduce speeding and identify areas that are of concern.

*  Supt. Jim Thompson opened the meeting by welcoming everyone and stating that CSW teams were making a significant difference. 9,286 stage 1 letters had been issued in the last year (first time drivers caught speeding by community speed watch teams), but only 13 stage 4 letters were sent; this shows people are changing their habits. The highest speed recorded by a team was 78mph in a 30mph limit.

* Research into recipients of letters showed that only 14% would not change their driving behaviours, so we are making a difference. Staffordshire University will be looking into the impact of the wording of the current letters. Where the letters reach the wrong person, and that person then contacts us. The power of the letter, reinforced by the QR code and video, is apparent. Our role in community speed watch is education, not enforcement.

* CSW events have and do help with mapping of ‘red spots’ in the county, thus identifying where Derbyshire Roads Policing Units and Safer Neighbourhood Teams can then concentrate their efforts with regards to enforcement. All data received then highlights problem areas which can then be reviewed before discussing the way forward with local councils and other agencies. Sometimes this means redesigning junctions or moving speed limit signs.

During the event we all had the privilege of listening to a presentation by a very brave lady called Stephanie Alger, the mother of a young person killed in an RTC, with speed as a factor, alongside watching the ‘A Lost Life’ video.

Derbyshire statistics:          2020        2024

Number of CSW groups      37            95

Number of volunteers         224          844

Number of sessions held    348          1,134

* We were reminded that - Every 22 minutes 1 person is injured on the roads.

Every 5½ hours 1 person dies on the roads.

* ACC Michelle Shooter then closed the meeting by saying that Derbyshire Constabulary had the strongest roads policing unit in the East Midlands, which has led to a decrease in both RTCs and road fatalities in the last 3 years. She identified that young people are still most likely to drive drunk or drugged and this is a problem.

#CommunitySpeedWatch

#MakingDerbyshireSaferTogther

#StandingTogether