Speedwatch – Call for Volunteers and Some Interesting Dates

Essex Police - Protecting against Rogue TradersSpeedwatch – Call for Volunteers

Anthony Robins, the local Speedwatch Coordinator, is issuing a call for volunteers.  Speedwatch is a  group of volunteers from West Bergholt and EAG who regularly go out and monitor the speed of the traffic on some local roads. Those seen above the limit are reported to the police who, in the first instance, Continue reading “Speedwatch – Call for Volunteers and Some Interesting Dates”

20’s Plenty Near Heathlands

A typical public event with Murray Harlow towering over the others
New Church Road
L-R Rachel Hopkins (teacher – Heathlands), Jeremy Hallam (headteacher – Heathlands), Aaron Monks (winner – age 9), Cllr Anne Brown (Essex County Councillor), John Gili-Ross (Parish Council – Chair of Environment), Mrs Monks (Aaron’s Mum), Murray Harlow (Parish Council – Communications), Harry Stone (Parish Council – Vice Chair & Transport Rep), Chris Stevenson (Chairman Parish Council)
At School Lane

20’s Plenty Near Heathlands

Improving traffic safety in our villages and schools can take some time but West Bergholt Parish Council has shown it is worth the effort.  Over a three-year period the village produced and introduced a Traffic Safety Plan.  It did this working in partnership with Essex County Council, Heathlands primary school and village residents.

A series of road safety measures were agreed and Continue reading “20’s Plenty Near Heathlands”

Traffic Safety Progress

Traffic Safety Progress

Traffic Safety ProgressTraffic Safety Progress

As a result of concerns about the safety of traffic in the village expressed at a recent Parish Council meeting a group consisting of Parish Councillors, Borough Councillors and village residents has been formed and met to consider what actions we can take to improve safety on our roads in the village.  The aim is to produce a plan with a strategy for actions that will be adopted by the Parish Council and lead to residents feeling more safe as they move around the village.

The Parish Council approved a Traffic Safety Plan in September 2012 with the objective of dealing with such issues mainly in the area of the school.  After reviewing progress on this plan the new group hopes to have revised proposals to put to the village for consultation.

You can read the 2012 plan here but in brief the vision was:

The Parish Council has a vision for the future travel environment in the village where walking and cycling become the preferred modes of travel, that traffic levels and parking do not dominate our village and that the safety of adult and child pedestrians remains paramount.

The strategy for achieving the Aims and Objectives of this plan included:

  • Restricting parking.
  • Providing alternatives for parents.
  • Slowing traffic.
  • Improving facilities for pedestrians and cyclists.
  • Reinforcing the school travel plan.

Update on Measures Proposed

Measure

Progress

1. A “Build Out” in New Church Road from the footpath to Mumford Close. Not achieved due to objections from local residents but timed yellow line restriction from pathway instead.
2. “Built up Tables” at each end of New Church Road and School Lane. Not achieved due to objections but red patches painted in road.
3. Yellow zig-zag lines outside school to be extended as far as bend. Timed yellow line restriction added instead.
4. Improved signage on approaches to school. Achieved.
5. New footpath along the edge of Poors Land. Achieved.
6. Car Parks at Orpen Hall, Treble Tile and Church to be made more available for use by parents. Orpen Hall park improved and journey to school made safer at crossing with New Church Road.  Use of Treble Tile agreed and operated for a time but then withdrawn due to misuse by parents.
7. 20 MPH limit in New Church Road. Achieved with enhanced signage to follow.
8. Designated space for disabled parking on Lexden Road. Not achieved.
9. A “Park and Walk” scheme organised by parents. No known progress.
10. Parents who drive to school to be encouraged to operate a voluntary one way system in School Lane. No known progress.
11. The school to review its Travel Plan. Discussions between the school and Parish Council are ongoing.

Reflections on Speeding

Anthony Robin, local Speedwatch volunteer for West Bergholt & Eight Ash Green, is passionate about the need for drivers to cut speeding, but in making his regular report and call for volunteers, his thoughts wandered into some historic and other directions related to speed.  The following is the result of this little distraction:

Road sign indicating towards the old A406 route
Road sign still indicating towards the old A406 route © A C Robin

When I came to live in Eight Ash Green, over 30 years ago, the main road through the village was called the A604.  The large green route signs labelled it as so, with the destination Cambridge marked, and if I remember correctly, the distance given was 49 miles.  Originally the A604 had run all the way from Harwich to Kettering. In fact the 6 at the front suggests it does not belong to this sector of the country, but the sector between the A6 (London-Holyhead) and the A1 (London-Edinburgh). Our sector roads start with a one.

To try to reduce the through traffic the authorities, relabelled the road, and whilst the route still exists it has different numbers for different sections.  Our local section, between Colchester and Halstead is labelled A1124, the next section to Haverhill is A1017, and the section between Haverhill and Cambridge is A1307.  The through traffic is signposted either A12 & A14 via Ipswich, or A120 and M11 via Stanstead.

Nevertheless this route is a lot shorter, and so for slow traffic is quicker, so many lorries still use this route. In fact my SatNav suggests I use the ‘A604’ route to get to Addenbrookes Hospital, and the A120/M11 route to Cambridge centre.  The authorities also changed the speed limit through all the villages on our route from 40 to 30 mph.

Despite these changes, a few months ago, I noticed that one sign on the “South Circular” between Kent Blaxill and the Leather Bottle was still directing traffic to Cambridge along this route (see picture above).  It was misleading, because there are no follow on signs for Cambridge.

Roadside 'graves' in France
Roadside ‘graves’ in France © A C Robin

The A1307 section is in Cambridgeshire, and there are large notices saying that the route is dangerous, saying high speed collisions kill and asking motorists to slow down. There are also several “graves” on this section of the road. No one is actually buried there, of course, but there are flowers and gravestones and even pictures of people who have been killed nearby.

In France it is official policy to put signs up as shown right, although the actual style varies in the different Departments. This particular one shows where 5 teenagers were killed. It certainly pulls no punches! Should we be doing this in the UK? Does it make people realise the dangers of the roads, or does it even distract motorists making other accidents more likely?

To try to make local motorists obey the speed limit in our villages, both on the A 1124, B 1508 and elsewhere, a few of us regularly go out with a radar gun, and report offenders to the police.  The project is called Speedwatch, and other groups go out in other parts of the County. Other Counties are involved with similar schemes.

If you would be interested in joining us, please contact me.

Anthony C Robin 01206 571910, [antibot mailto=”[email protected]”]

Postscript

This news update was posted to our Facebook page where a reader provided this further insight into the politics of road naming:

At the time of the route re numbering I was a member of Castle Hedingham Parish Council. ECC proposed that the road from Braintree Corner, Sible Hedingham, and Halstead High Street be downgraded to B road status (in order to further reduce the chances of drivers seeing the old A604 as a viable through road). There were various objections (you can probably guess from whom) on the grounds that if Halstead were no longer a crossroads of two A roads it would lose some of it’s status.  This from people who continue to campaign for measures to reduce traffic through Halstead….    Simon Daw

March Speed Watch Update

Community Speed WatchThe West Bergholt & Eight Ash Green Speed Watch team remains one of the most active in the county; with 78 groups in total only 7 undertook more speed checks in March.  Across the county as whole there were 147 speed checks (up from 99 in February), which resulted in 1,129 first warning letters, 77 second warnings and 24 being processed for further action being either a visit from an officer or specific enforcement.

Essex Police are always actively trying to clamp down on speeding drivers and they have a dedicated web page where you can see details of recent speed checks undertaken by police officers as well as the location of Community Speed Watch groups throughout the county – http://www.essex.police.uk/be_safe/speeding.aspx.  Essex Highways also maintain a mapping system where you can find details of accidents, speed cameras etc… at http://www.essexworkstraffweb.org.uk/main.html.

If you are interested in finding out more about the local Speed Watch group, perhaps you would like to join them, please contact Anthony Robin by phone on  (01206) 571910 or email [antibot mailto=”[email protected]”].  An earlier post on this site also has more information – speed watch campaign.

Speed Watch team one of most active

Community Speed Watch team
The local Community Speed Watch team help keep our roads safe.

Of 61 Speed Watch groups in Essex, the West Bergholt/Eight Ash Green speed watch team remains one of the most active (joint 5th) with 6 speed checks undertaken in February.  Between them the groups managed over 90 checks last month resulting in 853 first warning letters being sent, 58 second warning letters and 15 requiring further action which will either be a visit from an officer or targeted enforcement; since January 2013 there have been over 29,000 offenders that have attended a speed awareness course.

If you would like to find out more about where Speed Checks take place from time-to-time, then you should check out the following link which will take you to the Essex Police website where you will be able to view the speed checks that have taken place in your area or nearby – http://www.essex.police.uk/be_safe/speeding.aspx.

The full Community Speed Watch report for February can be downloaded from here:

 

Speedwatch – Surround a Town

Community Speedwatch targeting speeding in our community
Local Community Speedwatch volunteers were involved in the recent Surround a Town event.
Community Wheels Truck
The Community Wheels truck joined Speedwatch teams and others in raising speeding awareness

Essex Highways, Essex Police, Essex Fire & Rescue and local Speedwatch groups joined forces on  5th February with a crack down on speeding motorists.   The results saw a substantial number of interventions including:

  • Road Safety staff gave advice and showed education videos to 81 offenders at enforcement sites.
  • 400+ people on the “community wheels truck” outside the Town Hall with road safety staff and staff from the fire brigade giving advice.
  • 32 drivers were recorded travelling over 36 mph in Langenhoe, Peldon and West Bergolt by Community Speedwatch.
  • 13 speeding drivers spoken to by school children at a child speed watch event outside a school in Colchester.
Other activities included:
  • year six walks conducted by road safety staff to highlight the dangers on the road to year six students.
  • road safety staff in a college to engage with over 50 students about road safety issues.
  • the north Essex parking partnership were patrolling schools to raise awareness of the dangers arising from poor parking outside schools.
Look out for future similar events.

December Speed & Crime Update

Community Speed WatchCommunity Speed Watch

With 56 Community Speed Watch groups in Essex undertaking 45 speed check sessions in December (3 of them in the West Bergholt/Eight Ash Green Area), Essex Police have reported statistics as follows:

  • 766 1st warning letters issued,
  • 57 2nd warning letters,
  • 5 incidents which will result in either a police visit or specific enforcement action.

Last Sunday a  regular police speed check was also carried out in the village and they stopped one driver for speeding (40ish) who was also twice over the legal drink drive limit.

Crime Update

Definitely a case of no news being good news.  The regular Crime Report issued by the Neighbourhood Watch Liaison Officer, covering ‘beats’ in and around Colchester over the Christmas/New Year period, ran to 41 pages  (roughly 250 incidents) covering events such as Assault, Criminal Damage, Burglary, Theft etc…  Fortunately not one took place in West Bergholt!

Speed Watch & Crime updates, Xmas precautions

Essex PoliceSpeed Watch News

Throughout the Colchester area Community Speed Watch Checks resulted in:

  • 1,120 first warnings,
  • 70 second warnings, and
  • 10 requiring further action (officer visits and possible enforcement).

The West Bergholt Speed Watch team undertook the 10th highest number of speed checks out of the 60 teams and will have contributed much to those numbers.

Mick Green of Essex Police’s Casualty Reduction section, further reported to the Speed watch groups:

BRAKE week was a great success and I can’t thank you enough for all your effort during the week despite the rain! 53 groups were visited, if you were not one of them then I can only apologise I understand that demand was greater than the officers available, but on that note our new Community Engagement Sergeant Graham Freeman will be tasking his Community Officers with arranging more CSW visits in the new year.

The Casualty Reduction section are trialling a new speed detection laser that records the offence which is then processed in the back office the offender then receives the details in the post. This device is capable of detecting hundreds of offences per hour and is now being used to great effect.

December’s activity is largely around drink and drug driving offences as we move towards the Christmas period, if you know of a regular drink driver or pick up any information we would love to hear from you, information will of course be treated in the strictest confidence.

Adam Pipe the Casualty Reduction Section manager continues to forward information via Twitter if you want to receive these tweets then log on and connect with him.

Crime Update

The Essex Watch Liaison Officer has reported on crimes committed between 9th to 15th December including one local crime, and offers a range of ‘Festive Security Tips’.

New Church Road

This “Burglary in a building other than a dwelling” took place between late afternoon on 6th & early morning on 9th December.  Suspects unknown have gained entry to secure class room by forcing the door, no search made, property removed from within.

Christmas presents and treeFestive Security Tips

With Christmas and New Year just around the corner, you are probably in the process of buying presents and stocking up on supplies for the festive season. However, at this time of year rich pickings can be found.

We want you to be able to relax and enjoy the festive season, so here are some useful tips to ensure that you don’t become a victim to an opportunist thief.

  • Make sure gifts and valuables, wrapped and unwrapped, are out of view and not visible from any windows. This applies in the car as well as in the home.
  • Photograph valuable property and log any serial numbers. Don’t store the information on a laptop, as that might be stolen too – keep it on a memory stick in a safe place.
  • Don’t put gift packaging out for recycling or leave it sticking out of your bin – thieves will notice boxes for branded products like laptops, TVs or accessories that could indicate an expensive piece of kit somewhere in the house. The safest thing to do is to break down any cardboard boxes or fold them inside out so that you cannot see the branding. You can then store them out of sight inside your home until you can dispose of them at a local recycling site.
  • Mark any expensive gifts you receive for Christmas with a UV pen or property marking service. This will make it harder for burglars to sell the items and allow police to return them to you. Call your local policing team on 101 for advice about property marking products. You can register your property with www.immobilise.com which is endorsed by a number of police forces.
  • Lock all doors and windows, leave a light on and draw the curtains when you go out at night. Keep your doors and windows locked from the inside even when you are inside your home.
  • Visible burglar alarms, exterior security lighting, timer lighting switches and leaving the radio on help to deter thieves and give the impression that somebody is at home.
  • Bolt and padlock garden gates and make sure you don’t leave ladders out, or other things that burglars could easily use to climb on. Remember to lock your garden shed and store your tools inside; it stops burglars using your tools to break into your house. Consider fitting extra padlocks to gates, sheds and garages. Don’t keep presents in the garage or shed.

If you’re going away, we always recommend asking a trusted neighbour to pop in to your home every now and then to turn the lights on and off, draw the curtains, collect the mail and make the house look occupied. It goes without saying, make sure everything is properly locked up before you leave and the burglar alarm – if you have one – is set. We advise cancelling your newspapers, magazines and milk deliveries. We also recommend that you don’t advertise the fact you are away from your home on Social Networking sites – thieves use Social Media too!

You don’t have to be a member of a Neighbourhood Watch scheme to be a good neighbour, and even if you don’t have much contact with your neighbours, Christmas could be the perfect time to break the ice, have a friendly chat and get to know them a bit better.

Burglars wander around looking for chances. The best opportunity for the police to catch them in the act is for you to spot them before they break in. Wherever you live, remain vigilant and if you see anything suspicious, call 999 immediately. You can also call 101 to contact your police in a non-emergency situation.

The Suzy Lamplugh Trust has also produced a guide on how to keep safe during the Festive season, which can be viewed and downloaded here:

 

 

SpeedWatch Report

Community Speed WatchSpeedwatch Report

Many readers will know that  West Bergholt have a SpeedWatch Group.  This is a group of volunteers, trained by the police to use an approved radar speed device.  Members are able to go, at a convenient time, to approved sites and monitor the speeds of the traffic.  Any motorist exceeding a threshold speed has their vehicle details written down, with time and date, and this is passed to Essex Police.  The keeper of the vehicle will then receive a letter from the Police asking them to obey the speed limits in future.  The Police state:

“Persistent high violators will be targeted by Essex Police resulting in prosecution.”

Intimidating

Many people have been concerned about the speed of traffic along the B1508, Colchester Road, and Lexden Road in particular.  Lorries and other large vehicles can be particularly intimidating where the footpaths are so narrow. Most of these vehicles are not exceeding the speed limit, but even then they create frightening turbulence.

The rail company paints yellow lines on the platform, to separate people from the trains.  Most of our footpaths are not wide enough to allow such a gap.  The B1508, Colchester-Bures Road in West Bergholt has similar issues.  Many people also complain about the skip lorries.  Again most of these are within the limit, but when we went at 6 am on September 30th, the first one we saw was doing 44 mph, in a 30 mph limit!  Miraculously all the others were within the limit.

Town Event for SpeedWatch

A Town event was held in Colchester on 18th September 2013, which involved several speedwatch groups.  I would like to share with you the final results for the day;

Road Safety staff gave advice and showed education videos to 51 offenders at enforcement sites, 300 people on community wheels outside the Town Hall with road safety staff and staff from the fire brigade giving advice, and 66 drivers were recorded traveling between 36 mph and 49 mph in Fingringhoe, Langenhoe, Peldon and West Bergholt by your local Community SpeedWatch Teams who conducted 5 sessions during the day.

One resident reported to me that their cat had been killed by a speeding and hit-and-run driver.  It could easily be a child or an old person next time!

Nuisance to drivers?

If you are a motorist who regularly speeds and thinks we are a nuisance, I would just ask you to do a simple experiment.  Try driving within the speed limit and see how much longer it takes.  Inevitably we have to slow for junctions and traffic lights, so the actual maximum speed has a surprisingly small effect on total journey time.

If you would like to come and join us, please let me know, so that you can receive the police training. Once trained members can go when they are able to find another volunteer(s) to join them.

Anthony C Robin
Spring Lane,
01206 571910.
[antibot mailto=”[email protected]”]

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