Meeting documents

Anyone who works or lives in the Thames Valley can ask a question at meetings of the Police and Crime Panel, at which a 20 minute session will be designated for hearing from the public.

If you’d like to participate, please read the Public Question Time Scheme and submit your questions by email to contact@thamesvalleypcp.org.uk at least three working days in advance of the meeting.

http://www.southbucks.gov.uk/article/5242/Public-questions-at-Panel-meetings

The following public question was submitted:-

A graph was submitted from their Mobile VAS. "It is located in our village, 220 metres inside the 30 speed limit zone. This is a country road classified as 4b local access by BCC. We have over 2000 drivers a day coming through the village in each direction. As you can see, 76% of these are exceeding the posted speed limit. 50% are doing over 40mph, 200 a day are going over 50mph and on average 17 a day are exceeding 60mph, we get at least one a day doing over 70. The average speed is 45mph, at some rush hours this can be 48mph, that’s the average. This is not only an offence but it is a form of anti-social behaviour which greatly affects our local amenity. It also costs in excessive wear to the roads and verges. The safety implications are obvious.

Since the speed limit was introduced in the 2010 review, we have been campaigning to have some enforcement in the village but we and our fellow parishes in the LAF are told that it is not a priority and nothing is done. We understand that this needs to come behind a list of more serious crimes but that doesn't stop it remaining an issue and it should not mean do nothing at all. The Police are the only authority given the power to enforce speed limits and to simply not do it should not be acceptable.

So, my somewhat rhetorical question is, when does this become unacceptable? If an average speed of 45mph warrants no action, what would?

We have been told to use techniques such as speed watch and to buy vehicle activated signs, sentinel devices and so on. While these DIY approaches can have an effect, it is short lived. People using these roads are regulars, commuters passing through mostly, all we need is occasional enforcement to educate drivers that there is a speed limit and it will be enforced. This need not be much, a few hours a few times a year at the right time."

The Chairman informed the Panel that this issue was discussed at the Great Brickhill and Wing Local Area Forum and there was concern about speeding in Mentmore and the safety implications of this.

The PCC reported that the best response to speeding was engineering and for the Council to install chicanes or speed humps. Enforcement would not stop speeding. Speeding was an issue for all Parishes. The Local Police Area were aware of the issue and would look at this from a policing point of view. The Chief Constable reported that the right forum for this issue was the Neighbourhood Action Group. The District and County Councillor for this area reassured the Parish Council that she sat on the Community Safety Partnership and road safety was one of its priorities. They would shortly be establishing a Task and Finish Group with partners to see how they could work together to improve road safety in the local area. The TVP Local Area Commander would sit on this Group.

The Chairman of the Parish Council reported that he had already made contact with the necessary partners which was why he had escalated the problem to the Panel. The Chief Constable reported that a Thames Valley wide Road Safety Summit had been held in September 2017 to look at engagement with Local Authorities on road safety and that a Working Group had been set up to continue this work. The Chief Constable was also meeting with Chief Executives to look at a more strategic approach to road safety and to target areas with high casualties.