Police Beg Villagers to Stop Clocking Speeding Drivers - Because They're Creating too Much Paperwork

Police have asked villagers in Ticknall, Derbyshire, armed with a speed gun to stop clocking drivers breaking the law - because they can't cope with the paperwork.

Residents were given the gun by officers to catch speeding motorists who break the 30mph limit through their village. 

So far the volunteers have carried out 10 speeding operations on the A514 main road through the village clocking a total of around 200 motorists. Police have told the group its operations are netting so many motorists they can't cope - so they'll have to stop clocking speeding drivers.

They have announced a new crackdown in the area as part of a new road safety scheme  - and told them they can stand down.

Drivers caught by the speed gun are sent warning letters from force saying they have breached the limit and if they do it again they risk prosecution. (The drivers are given allowed 6mph leeway over the limit). 

A Derbyshire Police spokesman said: 'Community speedwatch events are an extremely valuable resource of information for us, as they help to illustrate the volume of speeding in certain areas.

'This allows us to focus our efforts on areas that we know are a problem or could become one.

The A514 through Ticknall has been identified as one of 100 roads across the county that we will be focusing on over the coming year, and that is partly down to the work of local residents carrying out the speed watches.

'However, the watches do result in increased workload for police staff, as every driver seen speeding receives a letter and this has to be processed. That is why we ask residents to be reasonable with the frequency and length of time spent recording details.'

 

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Can Losing White Lines Cut Speeding

There are some trusted methods to slow speeding drivers such as Speed cameras and sleeping policemen, they are also however controversial, with speed cameras often regarded as a stealth tax while sleeping policemen can damage the drivers car.

There is a new suggestion to encourage motorists to stick within the speed limit – the removal of white lines from the centre of urban roads – could prove the most controversial yet.

Transport for London (TfL) studied the effects of road design on driver behaviour and although the widely held view is that street signs and road markings maintain road safety by providing drivers with timely guidance to aid decision-making and reduce uncertainty, there is mounting evidence to suggest there are too many visual intrusions at the road side and this is adding to driver confusion.

Transport for London as part of the review removed road signs and road markings along three of its routes to assess the impact a less cluttered roadside has on driver behaviour, the results of this are not evident yet but another of their studies has already revealed a drop in vehicle speeds along the routes which had road marking removed.

Seven Sisters Road in north London, for instance, saw southbound traffic speed drop by almost 13%, from an average of 32.4mph to 28.3mph.

It is believed that the removal of white lines takes drivers out of their comfort zone as ‘their’ side of the road is no longer clearly defined and so they can’t be confident that oncoming traffic won’t encroach. In turn, this uncertainty makes motorists concentrate more on their driving and speed and is an effective way to make sure they stick within the speed limit.

Decisions on whether to remove white lines will be left to individual local authorities and won’t be considered roads on where markings are used to highlight particular hazards, such as on approaches to complex junctions.