The CRA has received this latest Speedwatch report from Peter Keemer, our Chipstead Speedwatch Co-ordinator. Peter and his team of volunteers are continuing to carry out the vital work of identifying speeding motorists in our village and co-ordinating the results with Surrey Police. Over the years, this persistent work has earned Chipstead a reputation as a place to watch out for by the wider motoring public!

Peter is a member of the CRA Roads Sub-committee, which is continuing the protracted battle with Surrey Highways to achieve physical traffic calming measures in the village. The CRA Roads Sub-committee and Speedwatch have complementary roles in improving safety for pedestrians, cyclists and equestrians.

 We have recently received the Speed Watch results for Surrey for 2018.     About 130 sites across the County are monitored by teams of volunteers and, once again, Outwood Lane is among the top half dozen, in both the total number of offenders logged and the average number per session.  We also account for almost all Speed Watch operations in Reigate & Banstead.

Road works in the village during the year restricted our activities and probably affected driver behaviour.  During 66 sessions our teams logged over 700 offenders, compared with nearly 900 from 87 sessions in 2017.  The worst sites were again Outwood Lane with 462 offenders from 20 sessions and High Road (216 from 28 sessions).

It would be unwise to try to draw firm conclusions from these statistics but the pattern is consistent with the police view that Speed Watch does help to improve driver behaviour.  Our data included twenty 2nd and 3rd offences, down from 39 the previous year. But still an indication that some aggressive drivers are not deterred by warning letters and more effective measures are needed.

We currently have 16 volunteers in the team which is diminishing due to members moving away from the village and availability. We would very much welcome new members to keep the team going and enable us to carry out more checks – you can do as many 1 hour sessions as you wish whenever you are available with two other members.   There is a short training session by traffic police for new volunteers and most members of the team do two or three “watches” a month – at sites and times which suit them.

For more information, please contact Julie Summers who organises the monthly schedules (julie.summers@btinternet.com

Peter Keemer