“In my constituency and many others, the police are training local volunteers to use professional radar guns so that they can help to enforce speed limits outside their homes.  With enough local witnesses, speeders are warned that their behaviour has been noted and persistent offenders can face prosecution.  These schemes leave the local constabulary free to tackle more serious offences. 

“I saw a Community Speed Watch team in action whilst walking through Morley St Botolph near Wymondham, and I was impressed by the determination of its members to keep their village safe.

“These schemes are very good news for local communities who are fed up with drivers refusing to treat rural speed limits with respect.   The Department for Transport should look at the success of the Community Speed Watch programme and make it easier for communities and police forces to set up new schemes”.

Mr Bacon was speaking as the Commons public accounts committee published its report on improving road safety for pedestrians and cyclists in Great Britain. The report finds that, despite its leading role in the promotion of road safety the Department for Transport does not always know about successful schemes undertaken by local areas, such as the Community Speed Watch initiative, and does not engage sufficiently with practitioners.

The report recommends that the Department should actively seek examples of successful road safety schemes run by local highway authorities and issue guidance on how these can be used more widely in ways that practitioners find easy to accommodate.