Motoring

Motoring Speedbusters: meet the East Dorset folk

By Faith Eckersall newsdesk@stourandavon.net

There could be as many as 100 community speedwatch groups in the county of Dorset with more than 50 active at any one time. Given that others are potentially in the pipeline, including one in Wimborne –the town council has put out a call for volunteers – that’s an awful lot of people willing to give up their time to stop other people from driving too fast. Volunteers are local people who receive training from police in using hand-held speed radar devices to record and monitor speeding drivers. Those discovered to have broken a speed limit are sent a letter from police. Further action can be taken if necessary. Ron Cross runs Ferndown Speed Watch, which he believes may be the county’s biggest group. The 16-strong team monitors four locations including Victoria Road, Wimborne Road East, Dudsbury Avenue and Ameysford Road. They’ve also started to monitor the new 30mph section of Ringwood Road to help raise awareness that the speed limit on this section is no longer 40mph. Ron says their results speak for themselves. “We’ve operated for just 14 months, over the last two-and-a-half years, due to the need to comply with covid guidelines,” he says. “During that time we’ve been seen by over 65,000 motorists and reported 1,600 speeding. Compared with other groups, our stats show we have some of the worst speeding hotspots in Dorset and it’s shocking.” In the first two months of resuming their service since April, the Ferndown group completed 17 roadside checks and were seen by over 10,800 motorists, with most observing the speed limit or slowing when they realised their speed was being monitored, says Ron. However, they still found themselves reporting 346 speeding motorists to Dorset Police. Despite this ‘depressing’ news, Ron is optimistic, partly because, he says, Ferndown is trialling a different approach: “To see if we can change the way we are perceived by motorists, in an effort to emphasise that it isn’t about shopping people, but, rather, reminding them to drive within the speed limits. “We are the only speed watch group in Dorset that are trialling working independently without the help of camera vans and mobile speed enforcement officers there with us,” he says. “We found we were getting quite a backlash, particularly on social media, from people who were saying we were snitches and out to get people so we decided to have a bit of a re-think.” He says the group is there to help residents but wants to remind motorists that: “We want to support them too, particularly those that unintentionally speed, by encouraging them to take more care.” The group stands by the roadside wearing hi-viz

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Motoring trying to get us to drive a bit more slowly

jackets. “It’s not so much for our safety, rather so that we can be seen by everyone, especially motorists,” says Ron. He added: “We deliberately don’t stand behind trees, pillar boxes or any other obstruction, to ensure we are highly visible and can be seen.” If they see a vehicle coming and believe it’s exceeding 30mph, they point the radar device at the vehicle to check. If, says Ron, it shows the vehicle isn’t exceeding the speed limit threshold they simply lower the device. “If they are exceeding the speed limit threshold we will record the speed and vehicle details, including the number plate,” he says. “It’s really important we get the right registration.” The details are then entered on a spreadsheet and submitted to the police, who send out an advisory letter informing the registered keeper of the car what has happened. Ron says the first letter a person receives politely warns them to adhere to the speed limit, as does any second letter, albeit more stronglyworded. This may be because the vehicle has been reported by another Speed Watch group. If they are recorded a third time, says Ron, they will receive a visit from a uniformed officer to their home. Their volunteers include younger people and residents who are concerned about the effect of speeding and they have received a £1,000 community grant from Tesco to pay for equipment. Ron says the group is solely about trying to lower speeds in the Ferndown area which, he says, has seen ‘life changing injuries’ occur in some road accidents. “We are sometimes informed that motorists warn other motorists of our presence by flashing their lights,” says Ron. “This is against the law but if it helps slow speeding motorists that’s fine by us, as ultimately, we don’t want to record anyone speeding.”

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