Challenge to slow motorists down

The BBC Reports:

Gloucestershire County Council says speeding traffic has grown to such an extent that it is being inundated with requests to borrow a radar gun.

The equipment is loaned for short periods to help establish the extent of the problem across the county. The Great Gloucestershire Debate - currently highlighting road safety - heard slowing speeding traffic is the next big challenge facing experts.

In one village it was claimed a driver was doing 60mph in a 30mph limit.

Garry Handley from the council's road safety team says people still think they are unlucky when caught speeding. He told the debate: "Stealing is stealing and speeding is speeding. "It is an offence and our challenge is to make drivers understand the seriousness of the crime and the tragic consequences when collisions occur.

'Ripping communities apart'

"We know 70% of drivers regularly exceed speed limits and it is literally ripping communities apart. "I know of one elderly lady who is so afraid to cross the road outside her home that she can no longer visit her friend, who lives opposite."

The GGD debate heard the village of Chalford had purchased signs which display a red 30 sign when motorist are exceeding the speed limit.

Councillor borrowed a radar gun and found, on average, vehicles were travelling between 40 and 43mph through the village. "If the police had been there, 14 people would have been booked in one hour," said Janet Gaskill from the parish council. "We now want to buy our own speed gun.

People slowed down when they saw the councillors out in their yellow jackets. "Speeding was one of the biggest concerns highlighted by people in our parish plan last year, yet we know it must be local people who are speeding because we get very little through traffic," she said.