Community Speed Watch supports the Police by monitoring the speed of vehicles throughout their community.
Community Speed Watch (CSW) is designed to support the Police by making us all aware of the dangers of travelling too fast in built-up areas.
The CSW scheme allows volunteers to monitor the speed of passing vehicles using a hand-held speed detection device. The volunteers record the details of vehicles which are exceeding the speed limit by around 10% or more. These details are passed to the Police, who will issue a letter to the vehicle owner, advising them of the dangers of speeding, and reminding them of the law. If three letters are issued to the same vehicle owner, the Police carry out further investigation.
CSW does not enforce the law. Vehicle drivers cannot be fined if they are recorded exceeding the speed limit by the CSW team.
The aim of CSW is NOT to catch as many speeding drivers as possible but to raise awareness that excessive speeds are socially unacceptable. We aim to reduce traffic speed within the village and address issues of concern from residents by raising awareness.
The Staveley Community Speed Watch team of volunteers undertake regular speed watch sessions at a number of sites around the village at different times of the day. The sites are approved by North Yorkshire Police CSW, all the watch team members are registered with the Police and the Police are also advised of the upcoming watch session schedule.
The CSW team is always pleased to welcome new members. The more members we have, the more watch sessions we can hold and the more visable we can be. Training is provided and watchers attend two or three sessions per month of approximately one hour duration. For further information about joining the team, please email csw@staveleyandcopgrovepc.org.uk.
Is CSW Effective?
The long term effect of CSW is currently measured almost entirely by perceived improvements in driver awareness and behaviour in speed restricted areas. Whilst these are the desired outcomes of the CSW process, there is currently limited empirical evidence as to its effectiveness.
One piece of research – “Routes to speed safety: Understanding and measuring the contribution of Community Speedwatch” – is currently seeking to address this lack of hard evidence and is being undertaken at Staffordshire University. It is due for completion in autumn 2023. A short introductory video on the project is available here.
Our long term objective for the Staveley CSW is to reduce both the number of vehicles travelling over the speed limits through the village and the extent to which those vehicle speeds are over the limits.
The tables and charts below are a monthly analysis from our watch session results. The intention is to get an indication as to how effectively this objective is being met in each speed zone. An effective CSW campaign could be seen as one where the monthly Offence Index and Average Over Speed gradually decrease over time.
There are of course many other factors which can influence these figures, such as weather conditions, time of year, school holidays, road conditions, driver awareness etc.. Hence they are only an indicator.
Monthly Offences and Average Over Speed for 20mph Zones
| Month | No. Offences | No. Vehicles | Hours Watching | Offences Index | Average Over Speed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| March 2023 | 58 | 292 | 4.03 | 4.93 | 10.45 mph |
| April 2023 | 46 | 152 | 2.75 | 11.00 | 7.78 mph |
| May 2023 | 38 | 224 | 3.00 | 5.65 | 7.87 mph |
| June 2023 | 16 | 117 | 1.95 | 7.01 | 8.44 mph |
| July 2023 | 26 | 195 | 2.97 | 4.49 | 8.23 mph |
| August 2023 | 53 | 241 | 4.00 | 5.50 | 8.19 mph |
| September 2023 | 26 | 125 | 1.87 | 11.12 | 10.35 mph |
| October 2023 | 25 | 127 | 2.00 | 9.84 | 7.56 mph |
| November 2023 | 37 | 214 | 4.00 | 4.32 | 7.08 mph |
| March 2024 | 34 | 250 | 4.50 | 3.02 | 8.79 mph |
| April 2024 | 4 | 58 | 1.00 | 6.90 | 6.75 mph |
| May 2024 3 | 33 | 289 | 3.00 | 3.81 | 8.64 mph |
Monthly Offences and Average Over Speed for 30mph Zones
| Month | No. Offences | No. Vehicles | Hours Watching | Offences Index | Average Over Speed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| August 2022 | 12 | 251 | 3.92 | 1.22 | 6.17 mph |
| September 2022 | 12 | 189 | 3.00 | 2.12 | 6.17 mph |
| October 2022 | 18 | 291 | 4.40 | 1.41 | 7.94 mph |
| November 2022 | 15 | 360 | 4.55 | 0.92 | 5.93 mph |
| February 2023 | 4 | 100 | 1.00 | 4.00 | 10.00 mph |
| March 2023 | 2 | 159 | 1.82 | 0.69 | 6.50 mph |
| April 2023 | 21 | 219 | 2.67 | 3.59 | 8.33 mph |
| May 2023 | 6 | 166 | 2.00 | 1.81 | 5.83 mph |
| June 2023 | 15 | 140 | 2.00 | 5.36 | 8.67 mph |
| July 2023 | 8 | 166 | 2.83 | 1.70 | 8.00 mph |
| August 2023 | 1 | 112 | 2.00 | 0.45 | 6.00 mph |
| September 2023 | 5 | 67 | 2.15 | 3.47 | 7.20 mph |
| October 2023 | 16 | 366 | 4.90 | 0.89 | 8.25 mph |
| November 2023 | 5 | 194 | 3.00 | 0.86 | 6.60 mph |
| February 2024 | 2 | 94 | 1.00 | 2.13 | 6.50 mph |
| March 2024 | 5 | 142 | 2.02 | 1.74 | 6.40 mph |
| April 2024 | 10 | 323 | 4.02 | 0.77 | 7.30 mph |
Notes
- The Offences Index is the percentage of offences (number of offences divided by number of vehicles) divided by the number of hours spent watching.
- The Average Over Speed is the total of speeds over the speed limit at the site where the offence was recorded divided by the number of offences. Offences are only recorded at or above the offence start speed ( Speed Limit + 10% of Speed Limit + 2 ) however, so this figure does not take account of vehicles travelling above the speed limit but below the offence start speed.
- Further watch sessions may take place this month which may change these figures.
More details of our watch session results are available here.