Public to be trained to catch speeders
POLICE are to give speed guns to members of the public and train them how to catch drivers who are going too fast.
The plan, set to be introduced in five different ‘speeding hot spots’ in Greater Manchester, has been described as ‘simple common sense’ by a chief inspector.
The Community Speedwatch scheme was launched last week on High Lane in Stockport.
It sees volunteers record the registration, make and model of speeding vehicles, before the information is passed on to police.
Drivers will then be sent a ‘warning letter’ asking them to keep their speed down, whereas repeat offenders could face prosecution.
High Lane resident Alan James is among the volunteers taking part. He said: “This is supposed to be a quiet road, there is a school at the bottom and this area has a lot of elderly residents.
“I have been living in this area for 11 years now and we have seen it go from about five cars in a day to more than 1,000 due to the changes on the A-road around the corner.
“We have seen incidents where someone has overtaken someone at high-speed, people overturning their cars and landing in someone’s garden.
“I get really annoyed when I see a speeding driver, so, if I can raise awareness and make a difference in my community, I will do everything I can to do that.”
Chief Insp Ronnie Neilson, from GMP’s Specialist Operation branch, said: “Having a community backing the work that we are doing and working alongside them is huge, it is simple common sense, it is about how we work together to solve a problem.
“After all, the community is a big part in what we do and it is great to have them involved in this scheme.”
Greater Manchester deputy mayor Kate Green said: “We would like to have this across the whole of the city region as this Speedwatch initiative fits into a bigger strategy for us around road safety and safe travel across Greater Manchester.
“I have met a number of residents across Greater Manchester who have serious concern about speeding around areas such as schools and local shopping centres, we are doing everything we can to keep every resident in those areas as safe as we can, and the work around that never stops.”
The others areas taking part in the Speedwatch scheme are in Tameside, Bolton, north Manchester and Wigan.