Cheshire Speed Watch volunteers take part in National Day of Action

Volunteers were out in force across Cheshire for National Community Speed Watch Day.

The volunteers gathered together on roadsides across the county on Friday 11 July alongside local officers in a coordinated day of action.

They joined volunteers across the country for the first time as part of the National Police Chiefs Council’s Operation Spotlight, which focuses on tackling the Fatal Five driving offences.

The main contributory factors to serious and fatal collisions on Cheshire roads in 2022 and 2023 were careless driving, drink and drug driving, not wearing a seatbelt, using a mobile phone, and speeding, which became the focus of Cheshire’s Fatal Five campaign to try and reduce the number of serious and fatal collisions on our road network.

With speed being one of the contributory factors of serious collisions, volunteers play an important part in our road safety prevention and education messages.

In Cheshire we have 60 Speed Watch schemes, and nationally there are nearly 2,500 Community Speed Watch schemes all supported by members of the community who kindly volunteer to help make our roads safer.

The volunteers record the speed of passing traffic on approved detection devices and those exceeding the speed limit are sent a letter explaining the potential risks and consequences of their behaviour.

On Friday in total our Cheshire volunteers recorded 811 speeding drivers who will all be expecting a letter through the post.

Chief Inspector Cameron Taylor said:

“Community Speed Watch is about education, and policing supports the committed teams of volunteers who work together to improve the safety of our local roads. Everyone should take responsibility for their actions behind the wheel to make our roads safer to all who use them. Here in Cheshire, we are very grateful to our community volunteers for their support in this message.”