Disappointment as Police fail to deal with speeding problems in Acomb and Westfield areas

Community Speed Watch

The Acomb and Westfield wards in York appear to have been snubbed as the police today launched a “community speed watch” project.

The Community Speed Watch pilot programme will run at up to 50 sites across York, Harrogate, Selby and Harrogate “where local people have already registered a concern about speeding vehicles”.

The Police say that the sites are “mainly” residential areas with 30 and 40 mph speed limits.

In York the chosen sites are in Holgate, Strensall, Clifton Moor, Dringhouses and Rawcliffe

However the concerns of residents living on Green Lane and Wetherby Road in the Westfield ward and Beckfield Lane in the Acomb Ward appear to have been overlooked.

A recent survey on Wetherby Road showed nearly 40% of vehicles triggering the 30 mph VAS warning sign.

No consultation with local Councillors appears to have taken place.

In a media release the Police say, “Over the next six months, police volunteers, together with members of the community, will visit the sites with a hand-held radar gun and/or an LED speed sign. They will record vehicle speeds and anyone caught speeding will receive a letter from North Yorkshire Police informing them of their offence and the need to address driving behaviour.

The main purpose of Community Speed Watch is to draw drivers’ attention to speed limits in areas where communities say it is affecting their quality of life, and to educate them about the effects that anti-social road use can have on local people. However, North Yorkshire Police will also be keeping a close watch on the recorded data, and may take enforcement measures if a persistent or extreme offender is identified”.

Details of the community speed watch leaflet can be found by clicking here

Our view

We think that using PCSOs and Specials to test speed limit compliance may be a good way to use some of their time.

We don’t see the involvement of local residents in enforcement activity of this sort as being appropriate.

It is potentially confrontational and part of the drift away from sustaining professional public service standards.

Police change policy on 20 mph enforcement?

Chances of a major confrontation on York’s streets, over the Labour Councils proposed “wide area” 20 mph speed limits, increased today following the publication of new enforcement guidance from the Association of Chief Police Officers.

The request for new guidance apparently originated from Transport Minister Norman Baker who was removed from his post in the Cabinet re-shuffle earlier in the week.

It appears that drivers found driving between 24 mph and 31 mph in the zones may be “invited” to go on a new style “speed awareness course”. Usually the other option is a £100 fine and 3 penalty points!

Similar courses have been an option for those exceeding – by a small amount – existing speed limits. They are generally well received, but reaction, from normally law abiding motorists to the new restrictions, is less predictable.

The Labour plan involves extending lower 20 mph limits to roads on which there has never been a recorded accident.

Behind the new limit, which could cost £600,000 to sign, is Cllr Semlyen – a Micklegate Labour Councillor – who is an extreme zealot on the issue.

The speed limit plan compliments Labour’s policy of targeting motorists through the extended use of ANPR cameras. Income from their use on Lendal Bridge and Coppergate is now understood to exceed £1/4 million.

The ACPO guidance is not open ended and talks of the need for limits to be clearly signed with natural enforcement using “engineering, visible interventions and landscaping standards” to increase driver awareness of accident risks.

Nevertheless, it is a change from the previous Police policy which (rightly) supported 20 mph limits only where they were self enforcing (for example using traffic calming systems)

The guidance does not recommend if proactive measuring of speeds should routinely take place in any new 20 mph limit areas.

So the North Yorkshire Police and Crime Commissioners’ assurance, given at a public meeting on 10th April, that there would be no camera enforcement of 20 mph limits presumably still holds good.

Our view remains that the Police and Council should concentrate their resources on those roads which have a poor accident record.

The ACPO guidance reads:
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New speed warning sign on Tadcaster Road on the blink

A new vehicle activated speed warning sign has been installed on Tadcaster Road near its junction with Mayfield Grove.

New VAS on Tadcaster Road

Several dozen of the signs have been in use in York for the last 5 years. They are triggered when an approaching vehicle is detected to be over the 30 mph speed limit.

They are a warning to drivers. No details are retained by a camera.

However the new device on Tadcaster Road was today flashing a 30 mph warning message to virtually all approaching vehicles irrespective of their speed.

Those apparently exceeding the speed limit included service buses.

Local LibDem Councillor Ann Reid has raised concerns about Tadcaster Road which does have a poor speed and accident record. The Council is right to try to address these issues.

However, the new VAS was installed without any consultation and needs to be properly calibrated if it is to have any credibility.

NB. Over the last 5 months the Police camera van has caught over 200 motorists on Tadcaster Road breaking the speed limit.