(from Isle of Wedmore News)
November issue
In the September issue, we reported previously on the Parish Council’s programme for vehicle speed monitoring for the purpose of identifying local roads where the Statutory Speed Limits are being ignored.
Results were given for the Cheddar Road and these can now be compared to follow-on monitoring results for the same stretch of road (see below) that included the use of visual and camera warning signs.
The percentage reduction in speeding vehicles is given in parenthesis:
• Total number of vehicles: 50,771 (normalised to 51,021)
• Number of vehicles travelling up to 30mph: 27,582 (+6.8%)
• Number of vehicles exceeding 30mph: 23,439 (-7.0%)
• Number of vehicles exceeding 40mph: 7,194 (-19.4%)
• Number of vehicles exceeding 50mph: 248 (-14.5%)
• Number of vehicles exceeding 60mph: 8 (0.0%)
Clearly, the additional warnings have reduced slightly the instances of speeding vehicles. However, there still exists a significant safety hazard on this stretch of road as a result of almost half the vehicles still not complying with the Statutory Speed Limit.
The Parish Council is committed to making this stretch of road safer for pedestrians, cyclists, local residents and other car users and so it is now working in partnership with Avon & Somerset Police on a parallel programme of Police Speed Enforcement.
Offending drivers caught by Police Enforcement measures are subject to a minimum penalty of £100 plus 3 penalty points and whilst attending Speed Awareness Training may be offered as an option, this would not be available for drivers caught exceeding 42mph along this stretch of road.
For your information, over 5,000 drivers were exceeding 42mph during the 28-day monitoring period in August!
September Issue
To improve the safety of pedestrians on all the roads around Wedmore, the Parish Council has embarked on a programme of vehicle speed monitoring linked to making drivers aware when they exceed the 30mph speed limit.
The average risk of severe injury for a pedestrian struck by a vehicle reaches 10% at an impact speed of 16mph, 25% at 23mph, 50% at 31mph, 75% at 39mph and 90% at 46mph. The results of a 28-day monitoring exercise for the Cheddar Road on the approach into Wedmore has revealed the following alarming statistics:
• Total number of vehicles: 51,021
• Number of Vehicles travelling up to 30mph: 25,814 (51%)
• Number of Vehicles exceeding 30mph: 25,207 (49%)
• Number of Vehicles exceeding 40mph: 8,925
• Number of Vehicles exceeding 50mph: 290
• Number of Vehicles exceeding 60mph: 8
Given the absence of a footway (pavement) on this stretch of the road means that we have a real safety issue for pedestrians.
During August, the radar monitoring continued but with the addition of visual and camera warning signs in order to alert all drivers recorded as exceeding the speed limit.
The results of this follow-on speed-monitoring exercise will be made available next month and will, hopefully, show a significant reduction in the number of vehicles breaking the speed limit.
The Parish Council is committed to implementing speed-monitoring systems to reduce the likelihood of serious injury to pedestrians where vehicles are involved.