Sunday, February 27, 2011

MP targets speeding drivers in his village

MP Paul Farrelly is joining residents to help tackle motorists speeding through the village where he lives.

The MP for Newcastle has been trained along with 12 other volunteers to launch a Community Speed Watch scheme in Alsagers Bank.

Mr Farrelly has been campaigning to slow drivers down in the area for years since his son was almost run over in the village.

The Speed Watch scheme was launched on High Lane yesterday and volunteers will now be stationed in the village and the surrounding areas on a rota basis.

Mr Farrelly said: "About five years ago, my son was nearly knocked over by a speeding driver in Alsagers Bank and last month, a car overturned while speeding in the village.

"It is high-time that the scheme is set up and it has taken 18 months to get off the ground.

"People must learn our villages are not places where you should speed, because it is only a matter of time before someone gets killed.

"When I am back from Parliament, I will be putting on the florescent yellow shirt from time-to-time and join volunteers out on the watch."

The initiative is being led by the Staffordshire Safer Roads Partnership.

Volunteers have been trained to use a hand held radar device to record the speed, registration number, make and model of vehicles caught exceeding the 30mph speed limit in the village.

Motorists flouting the limit by the team will be sent two warning letters and, if caught for a third time, will then be visited by a police officer.

Janette Bissell, aged 43, of High Street, Alsagers Bank, who is leading the team, said: "The support from Paul Farrelly has made a huge difference in getting this scheme running. We now want to get permanent Speed Watch signs in place."

One of the residents helping out with the scheme lives on High Lane, Alsagers Bank, where he says there are a number of speeding drivers.

Christopher Coates, aged 64, said: "Speeding is a significant problem on my road.

"Some motorcycles drive through in a controlled manner but there are some which come down at a ridiculous speed.

"I hope the knowledge that Speed Watch people are going to be out here will encourage people to slow down."

Fellow volunteer Lionel Turner, aged 61, of Station Road, Miles Green, said: "We had to get together to reduce the speed of traffic in the area, particularly around the local schools.

"There aren't a huge number of accidents, but you hear about a lot of near misses.

"We hope it will make people become more sensible drivers."

There are currently 47 Community Speed Watch schemes running in Staffordshire with 370 volunteers.

In 2010, they carried out more than 380 hours of speed checks which resulted in 1,078 initial warning letters being issued, 29 second time letters and three third time visits.



Source: http://rss.feedsportal.com/c/32715/f/503368/s/12fd1f06/l/0L0Sthisisstaffordshire0O0Cnews0CMP0Etargets0Espeeding0Edrivers0Evillage0Carticle0E32712110Edetail0Carticle0Bhtml/story01.htm

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