Spent the evening with Park's PSCO's, Traffic PC's and St Barts residents who were manning a speed trap in St Barts road. Local residents had been invited by the NAG and Police to see a speed trap at work and monitor how many drivers were speeding down the road. The road is a residential street that forms a link between the Wokingham Road and London Road. Residents are very concerned that motorists are racing down the road at high speeds endangering children and adults crossing the road.
The results were interesting. The Police had run the trap during the day and told me that motorists were averaging about 20-25mile and hour down the road, but a significant number were driving at more than 30 miles and hour.
The Police were there for about an hour and a half in that time 6 drivers were caught driving at more than 30 miles and hour. This may not sound like a significant number however it works out at one speeding car every 15 mins or 4 an hour, or between 70 and 80 speeding cars a day or more than 20,000 speeding cars a year. This makes this a significant problem and one which I will be taking up with the council.
It was good for the Police to see how many cars broke the law and I hope they run the speed trap again. I would like to thank them for letting residents see them at work and the NAG for organising the event.
