New community watch scheme helps catch speeding drivers in Awsworth

Members of the community in Awsworth said they are already reaping the benefits with 12 volunteers tackling hotspot areas in the village.

Now police are calling for more areas across Nottinghamshire to sign up to the scheme, with training provided.

The new project aims to expand on schemes already established across the county.

Community Speed Watch is where volunteers can monitor and record the speed of vehicles travelling through their community.

Hayley Holt is the coordinator for the Awsworth Community Speed Watch scheme, which was launched this autumn.

She said: “We are at three different locations in the village at different times of the day. We wanted to be involved because we were worried that someone will get seriously injured.

“We have had a number of cars veer off the road into walls and into the front of people’s gardens – and it is not like this has happened once. It happens a few times a year. This is the first step towards sorting this problem out.

“It is quite worrying the amount of people we do catch speeding, but we hope that people now know we are about.

“I would definitely encourage people to sign up. It is run by volunteers and it is a real community scheme to make the area safer.”

Inspector Mike Ebbins, Nottinghamshire Police’s Broxtowe neighbourhood inspector, said the relaunched scheme aims to address residents’ concerns.

He said: “We have decided to relaunch this scheme because we know this is what residents want.

“We certainly don’t want the public to think we are passing over the responsibility to volunteers to do our work for us. That is certainly not the case. This is about working in partnership with our communities.

“Our volunteers play a pivotal role in the communities where they live and all the information they provide on speeding motorists will be updated and reviewed by officers.

“Speeding can cost lives and this scheme is one of many steps we are taking to make the roads of Nottinghamshire safer for everyone.”

Police are now actively looking for volunteers to drive the speed watch programme in their communities. If you are interested in volunteering, email [email protected]