Woodmancote Community Speed Watch – Making Our Roads Safer
Background
The Community Speed Watch team has been running in Woodmancote, in conjunction with the Gloucestershire Constabulary, since 2022. The team was set up following a survey, where residents told us one of the worst things about living in Woodmancote was traffic speeding through the village. The team have operated about once every 6 weeks, mainly on Two Hedges Road and Britannia Way where they have monitored the speed of vehicles travelling towards Woodmancote School and Cleeve School using a handheld device.
As a result of their exceeding the speed limit by some margin, over 200 motorists have been issued with warning letters by the police. Some have been travelling in excess of 45mph in what are 30mph roads. This has been despite the Speed Watch team having put out large yellow signs advertising their presence in front and behind them and wearing day glow yellow tabards.
The team have been subjected to some interesting hand gestures from passing motorists and criticism of their activity from a very small number of residents on Facebook. However, the support from passers-by, residents who have come out of their homes to speak to the team, and those who have taken the time to email the Parish Council far outweighs this.
Community Speed Watch Cameras
In April 2023 the Gloucestershire Constabulary met with members of our Speed Watch team and agreed 2 locations where installing a camera might help to reduce speeding. One on Two Hedges Road and the other on Britannia Way. Woodmancote Parish Council applied for a community Speed Watch Camera (officially referred to as an AutoSpeedWatch non-ANPR speed detecting camera), free for one year, to trial its effectiveness at changing behaviour. It was finally installed at the end of April on Two Hedges Road. It has since been gathering baseline data – the speed vehicles travel at when there are no camera warning signs in place and there is not a team of 4 standing by the road in yellow day glow pointing a handheld speed detecting device towards their car.
Two Hedges Road Camera – Data Gathered So Far
The camera is currently gathering baseline data. No vehicle has been reported to the police. The camera is solar powered and not operating constantly. During the month of May it recorded:
• 970 vehicles travelling at 35mph or more
• 236 of those vehicles travelling at 40mph or more
• 151 vehicles recorded 2 times or more travelling at 35mph or over
• 18 vehicles recorded 5 times or more travelling at 35mph or over
• One vehicle was recorded 14 times over the speed limit, with a top speed of 46mph
• 53mph was the highest recorded speed
Once camera warning signage has been installed, the setting of the camera has been finalised and baseline data has been collated it will go live. The current plan is for the Two Hedges Road camera to be operational in July 2024.
With installing the camera we are aiming to change driver behaviour by identifying and reporting the worst and most persistent speeders. In the same way as with the manual Community Speed Watch, the worst or most persistent motorists who speed will be reported to the police.
Community Speed Watch Team
The team will still also continue to operate in locations around the village. Please do let the Parish Clerk (clerk@woodmancoteparishcouncil.com) know if you are willing to join us. We do not have enough volunteers to cover all the roads people have asked us to monitor.