I SUGGEST it will take a serious accident before the police take some meaningful action, like handing out fixed penalty notices, to solve the speeding problem in High Pittington, near Durham.

I note that:

  • 1. Durham Constabulary do not have fixed speed cameras
  • 2. Community Speed Watch is to be resurrected in the village, but it relies on publicity spirited volunteers and has a benevolent approach to speedsters. It is a dog that doesn’t bark and is unlikely to curb perennial speeders.
  • 3. The current format for assessing speed survey data is flawed. We have a 30mph speed limit but it is being massaged by the use of buffer zones, average speeds, percentages, and 24 hour daily surveys (why not a more realistic survey, 7am7pm?). There’s not even a mention of the speed transgressions recorded. It should not be beyond the wit of man to determine speeding hot spots and allocate police resources accordingly. I am heartened by the fact that I appear to be on the same wavelength as the Chief Constable of West Mercia, who is the National Police Chiefs Councils lead and is calling for a zero tolerance of the 30mph speed limit.
  • 4. Have Mobile Speed Vans been used in High Pittington?

When, and results please? Most of these matters have already been put to the police but silence seems to be the vogue these days!

E McKeown, High Pittington, Durham