Volunteers needed to help catch speeding drivers in Hampshire villages

Hampshire Police has relaunched the Community SpeedWatch group in Shedfield Parish, covering the villages of Waltham Chase, Shirrell Heath and Shedfield, enabling members of the community to become police support volunteers.

The scheme allows members of the public to be proactive against speeding on the roads of concern within their area and residents are being asked to come forward to volunteer for the scheme. Organisers of the scheme said that speeding is often a cause for concern in villages, and this is a way local people can help reduce traffic speed locally.

The scheme suffered as a result of the Covid 19 lockdowns, not being able to run for many months due to social distancing restrictions, and over time, some of the trained volunteers had moved on leaving the community group with only a few volunteers left. With restrictions now lifted and some recent new volunteers re-energising the scheme, it is on the lookout for more new volunteers.

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There is no set number of hours required, however, volunteers have to be 18 years old or over and would go through a simple vetting and training process. Volunteers use equipment that can monitor the speed of passing traffic and then record the details, later adding them to a database.

Vehicle checks are then undertaken by the police and letters are sent to the registered keepers, advising them of their speed and reminding them of why it is a community concern. It is hoped this will have a more positive effect on some vehicle driver’s attitudes compared to slowing traffic using engineering schemes. This Meon Valley scheme will re-launch very soon, with regular high visibility deployments over the summer.

Those who want to get involved in the Shedfield Parish Speedwatch scheme, are encouraged to contact [email protected] for more information.

If you are concerned about speeding vehicles in your area and would like to set up a scheme, or would like to volunteer for other existing schemes, go to www.hampshire.police.uk.

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