Frodsham residents take tackling speeding into their own hands

A new community road safety group is set to be established in Frodsham to help educate drivers on how to use the areas roads safely.

Police and crime commissioner David Keane has awarded funding to the existing community speed watch scheme to expand the support they offer tackling road safety issues in the community.

The newly formed Frodsham and District Road Safety Group will work with Cheshire Police to run sessions for local residents and schools on road safety.

The volunteers in the group will give up their time to address speeding and parking issues in the area without the constant supervision of the local police team.

The funding, which has come from the commissioner’s Community Police fund, will pay for educational resources and equipment to carry out the sessions, as well as an additional speed gun.

The Community Police Fund is a new fund which has been provided to all 122 policing communities in Cheshire. Community police officers and Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs) have been working with local residents to develop bids of up-to £1,000 to fund projects which address local issues.

The fund has been developed using money seized from criminals under the Proceeds of Crime Act (PoCA) 2002. It also links directly to the recently launched initiative to increase police visibility in every community by providing a dedicated Police Constable and PCSO for all 122 areas.

PCC David Keane said: “The community speed watch team in Frodsham already do a fantastic job in making our roads safer. These dedicated members of the community work with Cheshire police to ensure roads in their area are safer for their fellow residents.

“Educating drivers and pedestrians on how to use our roads more safely plays a big part in reducing the number of deaths or serious injuries on our roads so it’s fantastic that the local police team in Frodsham will have extra support in getting invaluable safety messages out to members of the community.”

Frodsham PCSO Neil Flanagan added: “The main issues in Frodsham from a policing perspective are speeding and parking.

“The funding will allow the group to work with us to tackle these issues along with other road safety matters.

“They will promote road safety at local events and create their own road safety talks for everyone in the community.”