Community Speedwatch wins award

COMMUNITY Speedwatch volunteers in South Somerset have won the prestigious Prince Michael International Road Safety Award.

The awards, which were launched in 1987, recognise achievement and innovation which will improve road safety. The South Somerset Community Speedwatch Group won the top award in the community category, which was sponsored by Wincanton plc.

The Community Speedwatch scheme allows local people to manage excessive speeding in their own communities, by involving civilian volunteers in traffic monitoring activities under close police supervision.

More than 250 volunteers from over 30 South Somerset communities have undergone formal police training in speed-monitoring and reporting duties.

First launched in Ash near Martock in 2001, Community Speedwatch has spread across the country, it is being used in over a hundred villages and towns across Britain and is now set to become an internationally recognised scheme to address speeding.

Director of the Prince's Awards scheme, Adrian Walsh, said: "This is an outstanding successful community initiative which is simple but effective – research has shown that it has made the roads safer in Somerset and in many other areas where it is being used. It is an example of a really cost-effective initiative.'

Chairman of the South Somerset Community Speed Watch Group, Stuart Hunter, said: "This award recognises not only the originality of the CSW idea as an effective, low cost way of dealing with a universal road safety problem but also the longevity, sustainability and replicability of the scheme which has proved so successful in South Somerset over the past 11 years."

Inspector Jackie Gold from Avon and Somerset Police said: "I am truly delighted at this prestigious award for the South Somerset Community Speedwatch Team, an award very much deserved."

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