Friday 26 June 2009

Speeding Traffic Meeting

'Until there is a fatal accident or someone is seriously injured nothing will be done about speeding traffic.'

This is the message which came from a meeting of the Withernsea & South East Holderness Regeneration Partnership held on 25 June at Skeffling Village Hall.

Mick Harris, Flagship Manager of Safer Roads Humber gave a down to earth presentation on the facts of speeding. Whilst it was very informative on the research which has been done into speeding, it did not give any solutions as to how excessive speeds can be reduced through the villages.

Concerns with incidents involving speeding drivers have been reported from Keyingham through to Withernsea on the A1033 and Easington on the B1445. The reaction to these reports were always the same: Until someone is killed nothing will be done.

During a recent police monitoring exercise in Skeffling it was revealed that all the drivers cautioned for speeds in excess of 45/50mph in the 30mph zone, were going to the gas site in Easington. A representative of the gas site told the meeting that workers were constantly being reminded to cut their speed, but it didn't seem to make any difference.

Every year BP send all their people on advanced driving courses. Yet two people have already been dismissed after a second offence of speeding. He said that road safety was of paramount importance and education must be part of the answer in making drivers aware of the dangers of speeding.

Cllr. Peter Taylor, of the Local Action Team, was adamant that every one of the agencies must concentrate on the problem of safety. The Police, Fire Service, and NHS are very interested in stopping road accidents. The Local Action Team is anxious to have talks with them all to achieve progress in this area. He said residents are very concerned about speeding and LAT needs to show they are trying to find a solution.

Mick Harris advised that the public should report incidents to the police. There as some concern that there could be vigilante repercussions if names and addresses were given. He said that if a caller prefer to remain anonymous, make sure you get a Log Number which will prove your call was made.

The meeting also discussed various traffic calming measures. Most of the villages already have these which have not solved the problem. 'Slow Down' signs, flashing signs, and speed cameras will not be used in the area as our accident rate does not fit the criteria. These are reserved for towns and cities with high accident rates.

Another idea which has been put forward is for hand held mobile cameras to be used by trained volunteers. The cost of the camera and training would have to be borne by Parish Councils. This idea is still at the talking stage, but has been successfully introduced in North Lincolnshire.

These cameras won't lead to prosecutions for speeding, but will provide the Police with valuable information.

It is encouraging that the problem of speeding motorists is now being taken very seriously by the authorities, and with pressure from the public it won't go away until a satisfactory solution has been found.

Cllr. Lesley Hodgson of Holmpton Parish Council said she didn't think the meeting was very helpful and didn't offer any solutions. "We need more police co-operation, we can't do anything on our own. The mobile camera seems a very good idea, but the Police must be more community minded." For those of you who want to report any road traffic incidents to the Police the number is 0845 60 60 222

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