Community Speedwatch

Many people living in North Marston consider speeding traffic to be one of the key problems that we, as a community, need to tackle.

One way to do this is to monitor the speed of traffic driving through the village and to collect details of those vehicles driving too fast.

Excessively speeding drivers demonstrate a callous disregard for children, cyclists, horse-riders and general pedestrians: in fact, a contempt for the safety and welfare of all people in the village.

In conjunction with Thames Valley Police (TVP), the Parish Council decided to do something about this menace. The council bought portable speed monitoring equipment which it shares with neighbouring parishes. Following training by TVP, small groups of volunteers in each parish monitor traffic speeds at pre-determined locations.

The timing and location of each session varies. Each parish has use of the equipment every five weeks, but it is only used in fair weather and good light, which tends to limit its use from Spring to Autumn.

Critical to this process is a pool of volunteers in each parish. Each monitoring session requires two or three people. Ideally, a parish like North Marston needs about ten Speedwatch volunteers to maintain a cycle of sessions every five weeks from April to October.

Volunteering with Speedwatch is doing something positive to reduce the unacceptable danger of excessive speeding through the village. If you want to help, contact the Village Speedwatch Coordinator, John Spargo, on 670225.