Warwickshire Police says it is delighted to welcome twenty newly trained volunteers to five new Community Speedwatch (CSW) groups in the county.
CSW is a national initiative where active members of local communities join together to monitor speeds of vehicles in their local area with support from the police.
The new CSW groups in Stretton-Upon-Dunsmore (Rugby Borough), Alveston, Tysoe, Brailes (Stratford-on-Avon District) and Warton (North Warwickshire) bring the total number of CSW groups to 42 across 84 approved sites in Warwickshire.
Gary Strain, CSW road safety officer, said: “Speeding is a real concern for many communities and our CSW volunteers play a valuable role in encouraging drivers to think about the speed they are travelling at and slow down in residential areas to help make Warwickshire’s roads safer for everyone.
“This complements our patrol, speed camera and mobile speed enforcement activities.”
To ensure no CSW members or the public are put at risk, a full risk assessment is carried out for each group.
Any drivers found to be exceeding the speed limit are referred to Warwickshire Police and receive a letter with the aim of educating drivers to reduce their speeds and drive safer.
However, in cases where education is ignored and there is evidence of repeat or excessive speeding offences, even across borders, follow up action is taken.
Gary Strain added: “My role is to be a point of contact for CSW groups, collating results and ensuring volunteers receive appropriate training to give practical experience of using the UltraLite Speed Laser devices.
“Volunteers also receive a regular CSW newsletter to keep them up to date on CSW news and information and how they can help support national anti speeding campaigns.”
The call for CSW volunteers comes during a four week operation to educate and catch drivers committing the ‘Fatal 4’ offences.
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