DRIVERS who put their foot down on roads through villages in the Durham City area are to be monitored by residents.

Community Speed Watch schemes are to be launched by the Mid Durham Rural West Area Action Partnership, which covers villages including Castleside, Brandon, Burnhope, Lanchester, Langley Park, Esh Winning, Ushaw Moor and Brancepeth.

This will entail volunteers manning portable Speed Indicator Devices (SIDS) that flash up a driver’s speed if they are on or over the limit for a particular road.

Drivers logged as being significantly over the limit will get warning letters from the police and could face further action is they caught speeding again.

The devices are becoming popular across the country as a means of tackling speeding and research has shown that drivers do cut their speed, particularly if they going some way above the limit.

The partnership board agreed at its fourth meeting to buy two of the devices for use in its area. Some of the funding could come from parish councils that will benefit.

Police representative Dave Coxon said: "The Community Speed Watch scheme uses devices called SIDs and means, with the support of a police officer, community volunteers can monitor the speed of passing traffic.

"The device shows the speed of oncoming vehicles to drivers and is an instant reminder if they are exceeding the speed limit.

"If a vehicle is identified as exceeding the speed limit by 10 per cent or more (i.e. 33mph or more in a 30pmh zone or 44mph in a 40mph zone) then the details of the vehicle will be recorded on the daily log sheet by the police.

"The owner may well receive a warning letter with further action taken if the same car is spotted speeding again."

AAP locality chairwoman Kath Currie, a public representative from Brancepeth, said the scheme would help to make the villages in the area safer place.

She added: "This emphasises the need to tackle key local issues, collectively, with the police and the local community working together. It is a highly visible scheme, which will be both educational and preventive".