15th March 2024
Community Speedwatch still needs volunteers
THE speed of vehicles travelling on the roads of Morval parish has long been a concern for residents and councillors alike.
Previous calls by Morval Parish Council to reduce limits, or introduce other traffic calming measures, have mostly fallen on deaf ears but councillors have now signed up for the Community Speedwatch programme.
It means that they can record vehicle speeds in 20, 30 and 40-mph zones and, using that information, bring extra pressure on the authorities to agree to more road safety initiatives.
Local volunteers held an hour-long afternoon session in Widegates village last month when of 123 vehicles travelling eastwards on the A387 (towards Hessenford), 13 were recorded as exceeding 35-mph (the official speed limit is 30-mph); i.e more than ten per cent of vehicles disobeyed the legal signs.
A morning session in January had reported 17 of 63 vehicles exceeding 35 mph (26.9 per cent).
The council cannot issue fines but it does record details of excessive speeds and passes them on to the police who then write to errant drivers, explaining the potential consequences of their behaviour and encouraging them to be more speed aware.
A number of residents have expressed the opinion that the camera sessions should be more covert (i.e the operators not being so visible in their high-vis uniforms) but the principal function of speed awareness is what it says on the tin… making motorists aware of their speeds in restricted zones and, hopefully, correcting their errors.
However, on occasions the speedwatch volunteers are joined by full-time police operatives who can, and will impose fines.
Devon and Cornwall Police also recently installed a temporary speed advisory sign on the (Liskeard side) approach to Trenode Church of England Primary school, Widegates, which recorded vehicle speeds passing the gates of the school.
The results of that exercise are not known but Morval Parish Council member Jasmine Fullalove has called on the Police to carry out a similar exercise through Widegates village itself.
Because there would be no visible warning signs that speeds are being recorded, and no hi-vis jackets in sight, she believes that such an exercise would produce more reliable details of average speeds through the village, which most residents along the road consider to be regularly in excess of the 30-mph limit.
Meanwhile the search continues for more residents to join the voluntary Community Speedwatch programme.
Anyone interested should contact the Parish Council clerk, Sam Pengelly (clerk@morvalparishcouncil.org.uk).
