Etchingham

Etchingham Community Speedwatch, many of you will have noticed that the Speedwatch volunteer operators have been out on the roadside in the village monitoring traffic speeds on a number of occasions recently. We were able to book out the equipment for several days in a row enabling us to operate sessions at various times of the day, every day, targeting some of the times that were highlighted as having high levels of speeding when we recently deployed the Survey SID to monitor traffic movements over several days.

Below are a few of the results from the last week, anyone wanting more detail from the results, or other facts, figures or information, is welcome to contact me and I will do my best to provide the information that you require.

The survey results showed an increase in speeding vehicles around the 7am to 8am period, so we monitored traffic entering the village from the Burwash direction every day Monday to Thursday from 7am to 8.30am, on Monday 13 vehicles reported, Tuesday 17, Wednesday 19 and Thursday 19.

Monday - fastest speed = 45mph with 3 others over 40mph, 9 36-40mph.

Tuesday - fastest = 53mph with 5 others over 40mph, 11 36-40mph.

Wednesday - fastest = 46mph with 5 others over 40mph, 13 36-40mph.

Thursday - fastest = 49mph with 7 others over 40mph, 11 36-40mph.

Other sessions were operated at various times during the week, between 2pm on Friday March 28th and midday on Thursday April 3rd, the total number of vehicles reported in all the sessions was 180.

We are currently operating at least one session every week and planning to hold some more of these more intensive sessions later in the year.

BUT! There is always a BUT, we currently have only five trained and active operators, we need more volunteer operators if we are to continue with the same frequency or we will have to reduce the frequency to avoid overloading the few volunteers we have.

If you, or someone you know in the village, feels inclined to get involved, please get in touch with me. Volunteers need to be trained in the use of the equipment and the safety issues involved before they can go out on Speed checks, the training is not difficult and takes just a couple of hours at Battle Police Station. Once trained, volunteer operators can take part in as many of few sessions as they want. Anyone interested in helping can get more information on the village websitewww.etchinghamvillage.co.uk or atwww.communityspeedwatch.co.uk , updates of the group’s activities are on Facebook www.facebook.com/etchinghamspeedwatch

The device used IS NOT a camera and nothing is recorded by the device, it simply tells the operator the speed of the vehicle approaching, if the vehicle is exceeding the speed limit by more than the prescribed margin the details are recorded and passed on to the Police, the registered keeper of the vehicle will then receive a letter informing them they were picked up in a Speedwatch check. The letter will tell them the speed that was recorded and give advice on regulating speed in 30mph zones, if the same vehicle is picked up on a second occasion they will receive a similar letter which has stronger wording and will also inform them that they are at risk of a fine if picked up again, following the third occasion the details are passed on to the Road Policing Unit, it is only from that point on that the driver is risking receiving a fine and/or points.

If you have any questions - please ask.Colin Boylett, Speedwatch Co-ordinator 01580 819532 [email protected]

New Etchingham PCSO, we have now been given the details of the new PCSO for Etchingham. His name is Iain Tomsett, he is currently on the local team at Herstmonceux, he has been a PCSO for 9 years with spells at Eastbourne and Wealden, he has also had a spell at Wealden on the Roads Policing Unit Casualty Reduction Team.

Iain will join us in Etchingham in the first week of June when the new intake of PCSO’s have finished their training and areas are reallocated. Iain should be a great asset to the area, Sgt. Paul Masterson will introduce him to us when he arrives in June.