The fight for safer roads as groups tackle speeding head-on with community-led initiatives and education
Communities are taking a stand against speeding as tourist flock to the South West. Mark Shelford, Police and Crime Commissioner for Avon & Somerset Police, has taken a stand against this threat, joining forces with communities to ensure safer roads for all. He joined the Bishop’s Lydeard community speedwatch group on Saturday, March 30.
“Safety on the roads is really important and sadly we have far too high a number of people who die on the road in Somerset, in excess of 50 last year,” he said. “This year hasn’t started well either.”
He emphasised the need for people to be aware of the reasons why fatalities occur on the roads, with excess speed being the greatest. He praised the community speedwatch initiative, saying: “Community speedwatch is fantastic at bringing that community together to focus on those issues, which are really of concern to the people. They’re brilliant because the education bit of that is fantastic.”
He outlined the three-pronged approach to tackling the issue: enforcement by the police, community speedwatch, and education. “Making sure that that education bit is done which community speedwatch do as well as the police is brilliant,” he added.
Shelford also highlighted the role of local councils in focusing on this issue, saying it’s much better than trying to engineer safety into the roads. He acknowledged that speeding was a concern, but said the solution was about ‘education, education, education.’
“That’s what we’re doing and that’s what community speedwatch do brilliantly every day of the week across the whole of Avon & Somerset and it’s fantastic,” he continued. He encouraged more people to get involved and reminded everyone that Avon & Somerset were the pioneers of community speedwatch across the country.
He had a message for visitors in Somerset: “Please be responsible because it is one of the main reasons why people die on our roads.” He added that distractions and a sense of bravado, particularly among the younger demographic, were reasons why people speed.
Shelford revealed that a lot of preparation was now going into keeping people safe following Easter and the upcoming spring and summer season. He shared his experience of a crash on the M5 and M4 over Easter caused by excess speeding, which absorbed a huge amount of time for the police officers who should be out fighting crime.
Patricia Bainbridge, co-ordinator of Bishop’s Lydeard speedwatch, shared her experience of setting up the group: “This took quite a while to set it up. We started last November after I was informed that the speed limit in Bishop’s Lydeard had gone down to a 20, but was unenforceable by the police, who don’t have a presence here, so I thought we would set up the speed watch,” she said.
Bainbridge expressed the need for more volunteers and the challenges they face due to weather conditions. She believes that raising awareness of safety, not just in the village, but in the wider community and around the county, is crucial.
She encouraged people to join their local group by going to Avon & Somerset’s website or getting in contact with them directly in the village. “Everybody moans about speeding and about everybody else’s behaviour, but they’re not always prepared to modify their behaviour. I know if I’m driving through and I see a speedwatch, it makes me drive a little bit better, with more due care and attention,” she concluded.
