Speedwatch needs your help…NEW COORDINATOR NEEDED FOR COMMUNITY SPEED WATCH

I instigated the Community Speed Watch scheme in the village in 2014 and am standing down as Coordinator this November (the month of our first monitoring session) after 10 years in the role. The team are happy to continue operating but don’t wish to take on organising the activity. Therefore we are looking for someone to step into the position.

Community Speed Watch is a police-led educational scheme (around 80 voluntary teams in Dorset), under the umbrella of Dorset Road Safe Partnership, aimed at encouraging drivers to watch the speeds they are doing. In Child Okeford, with pedestrians (including families, the elderly, dog walkers), cyclists and horse-riders regularly using the roads that have no footpaths or street lighting, including the often congested area around the shop and The Cross, it doesn’t take much imagination to think what could happen. The majority of drivers slow down when seeing us but we typically report 5 – 10% of the total monitored going over the allowable limit. Educational letters are sent by the Police, and a driver transgressing more than three times will be visited by an Officer for discussion, with further action if necessary – at this stage they also use the information for intelligence in case the speeding could be connected with crime.

Although we adhere to a schedule, it is up to the individual teams when to hold monitoring sessions (typically 1 hour), based on availability, and we do not operate in poor weather or visibility. They must be organised in advance and the Police notified, partly for information, partly in case an incident occurs and support is needed, but also so that their No Excuse and TruCam teams can visit us whilst on duty.

Being Coordinator is a regular but not onerous commitment, organising the monitoring sessions, reporting the results via an Excel spreadsheet, and forwarding newsletters and other information from the Police CSW Coordinator. There are occasional joint events and an annual, 1 day, Conference (within Dorset) – no obligation to attend but it is always very friendly and informative. I would of course give full hand-over training plus our supervisor (Police Coordinator) is always very supportive.

We are also a friendly bunch and enjoy a good chat whilst keeping our eyes on the traffic! I believe CSW is a valid part of trying to keep our roads safe in conjunction with other traffic calming measures and wish to see it continue. If you would like to find out more with a view to taking on the role, please contact me: [email protected]

Celia Ebdon

Community Speed Watch Coordinator