We now have an active SpeedWatch team, organised by Nicky Massey. We also now have a Speed Indicator Device, which shows drivers their speed when it exceeds 20mph. These are effective ways to reduce speeding.
Any resident interested in being involved in Speedwatch or in helping look after the speed indicator device, please contact us.
Speedwatch sessions conducted so far have identified a large number of speeding vehicles, including taxis. The police are notifying vehicle owners and taxi licensing authorities.
The Speedwatch scheme allows the public to get actively involved in monitoring the speed of vehicles travelling through their neighbourhood. The scheme is run by the force alongside the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Road Safety Partnership. It is about educating motorists in the law in relation to speeding and monitoring any trends in speeding in neighbourhoods.
Volunteers are trained to use speed indicator devices which displays vehicle speed. The registered owner of any vehicle seen exceeding the speed limit is sent an advisory letter from their local neighbourhood policing team, explaining that speeding is unacceptable to the local community.
If you are, or are thinking about being, a volunteer, please read the Community Speedwatch guidance notes. If you have any questions about the scheme, please email CambridgeSpeedWatch@cambs.pnn.police.uk.
Please note that the police do not recommend filming drivers speeding. The police are unlikely to act on evidence gathered in this way and advise that you should have regard to your own safety.
Has the suggestion been made to make all side streets 20mph?. Surely this would make everything easier no need for people monitoring speed, or holding cameras etc.
The issue is about enforcement, as all the roads, including Mill Road, are already limited to 20mph. Most people drive faster than that, and some significantly so, especially on the main through routes, such as Tenison Rd and Devonshire Rd. The police recognise that there’s a problem but do not have the resources to enforce the limit, which is where community Speedwatch comes in.
I believe they all ARE now 20 m.p.h. limited.
I believe that the worst offenders in respect of ignoring the 20 m.p.h. limit are the taxis. I have always believed that the taxi companies should to be approached prior to the establishment of the speed limit, because without their cooperation it would never work. Is it too late to talk with them? Would they listen? Could they impose stricter rules on their drivers?
Margaret Cranmer of Tenison Road complained some months ago at the City Council East Area committee about speeding taxis. To their credit the Police and the taxi licensing staff at the City Council wrote to every taxi driver in Cambridge and South Cambs reminding them about the issue of speeding in Tenison Road.
Given the intense usage of our local roads by taxis and private hire vehicles, keeping these vehicles to the speed limit would all following traffic to the sped limit and hence reduce the speed of most.
I think that Cambridge City and South Cambs councils should enter into an agreement with drivers of taxis and private hire vehicles, to supplement the existing regulations and the relevant road traffic acts.
This could include an agreement to stick rigorously to all speed limits (in addition to agreements about safe setting-down/safe picking-up, waiting for vulnerable people to enter their hopes, courtesy etc).
Repeated reported breaches could lead to interviews, disciplinary hearings, penalties or loss of licence.
Two of the worst spots for breach of the 20 mph limit on Mill Road are at each end of the railway bridge. For SoPRA our concerns would be in relation to the junctions with the access road to Mill Road depôt and the Devonshire Road – Mill Road – Kingston Street crossroads.
I would like to see one of the flashing advisory signs installed at this point to gather data on speeding. Perhaps SoPRA members could note the categories – taxi/hire car, private car, motor cycle, bus, delivery van, etc – of the miscreant vehicles over sample hourly periods to supplement this data.
The police are now prioritising monitoring of speeding on our roads. A officer was out with a speed gun on Devonshire Road on 20 July.