Community Speedwatch is looking for volunteers to help join our Chailey Team.
Community Speedwatch is looking for volunteers to help join our Chailey Team.
This is a vital role in helping to reduce antisocial driving and to help prevent death and injury on our local roads.
Community Speedwatch (CSW)is a National Initiative where active members of the local community join with the support of the Police to monitor speeds of vehicles using a Police issued speed detection devices. Vehicles exceeding the speed limit are reported to the Police. The aim is to re-educate speeding drivers to reduce their speeds.
In cases where education is blatantly ignored and evidence of repeat or excessive offences is collated (even across county borders), enforcement and prosecution may follow.
Volunteers receive appropriate training and are supported by neighbourhood policing team (NPT) staff. The Chailey group works with a minimum of two persons present and sometimes three on particularly busy sites. The team is provided with a body worn camera, to record as necessary, and is covered by police insurance. All sessions and timings are preapproved by the police and officers attend some sessions.
The Chailey team operates at six different sites in North and South Chailey. In the last 12 months the group has undertaken 52 sessions recording 283 speeding offences out of the 17365 passing vehicles (1.62%). The group is not there primarily to catch speeders, but to slow traffic by their presence. A nil return of speeders during a session is a successful one. Some sites have noticeably higher recordings for speeding – Mill Lane, South Chailey where 126 of 1406 cars reported (8.96%) and Warrs Hill, North Chailey where 78 of 2055 cars reported (3.79%). In the last 12 months the highest reported speeds are 51mph in 30mph limit in Mill Lane (+70%), 61mph in 40mph limit at Warrs Hill (+52%).
More volunteers are always welcome and will allow more frequent monitoring sessions. As a volunteer you can give as little as 90 minutes (one session) a month. You can choose which sites and dates you wish to volunteer for.
The scheme aims to cater for the problem of real or perceived speed related offending, and through partnership with the community it is used in circumstances that are necessary, justifiable, and proportionate to:
Reduce death and injury on the roads.
Reduce speed of vehicles to the speed limit.
Increase public awareness of appropriate speed.
Improve the quality of life for local communities.
To join please visit http://www.communityspeedwatch.org and go to registration tab, choose to join an existing group then select Chailey group. The first part of training is taken online at your own pace. Once this has been passed, you will receive further practical training with existing Chailey group members.