1. Community Speed Watch (CSW)
Alan Wheals (Team Leader) & Brian Oliver (CSW Member)
What is CSW?
History of CSW in Westwood
The CSW team in Westwood
Summary, Speed data and CSW counts
Results to date (2+ years of monitoring)
Significant features of the data
Conclusions

2. What is CSW
Community-led monitoring of vehicle speeds on public roads; it is happening all over England
The aim of CSW is educational; to remind people to observe the speed limit
CSW teams use a calibrated Laser Speed Monitoring Device
‘Speeding’ means [speed limit + 10 % + 2mph]
Details of speeders are recorded - this comprises: date, time, site, speed, vehicle number plate, type and colour
Details are reported to the police
Depending on the speed, offenders get a letter or a visit
Nobody is ever prosecuted!
No permanent records or photographs are maintained by CSW teams

3. History of CSW in Westwood
CSW was supported by a village poll in 2012
57 % of households responded to a survey
56 % of respondents felt that they were satisfied or very satisfied with the 20mph limit
CSW was officially approved in January 2014
CSW started in February 2014
6 sites have been approved by the Police, all on the Lower Westwood Rd
All sites are bi-directional except the New Inn which is incoming only

4. The CSW Team in Westwood
CSW team members are all volunteers
Each Team Member chooses the amount of time to offer
They have been vetted by the police and undertaken a training course at Wiltshire Constabulary HQ in Devizes.
The current team of 6 record data at different times and at different places over a 2-week period
They work in teams of 2-3, wear Hi-Viz tabards and only work in daylight hours when the weather is dry.
Teams stand for 30 minutes at each approved roadside site
They must wear Hi-Viz jackets so drivers can see them
We make vehicle records of speeds >24mph
We upload data to a central reporting facility in Trowbridge

5. Summary data
There are no significant differences in speeding when it is measured by:
Time of day
Day of the week
By location of monitoring
The one exception is entry into the village from the east when up to one third of vehicles are speeding
So are we making a difference?

7. Significant features of the data
We have counted 34,229 vehicles over a timespan of 187 hours (nearly 8 days of counting!). Of these:
2618 (7.6 %) were speeding at 25+ mph and
807 (2.4%) were speeding at 30+ mph.
The trend indicates that the over 25mph speeders has dropped from about 10% to about 7% but the over 30mph has remained pretty static from about 2.8% to about 2.4%.
The number of vehicles per hour varies between 89 and 244 and averages out at 183 (i.e. 3 per minute).
There is little difference with % speeders depending on the time of day.
There is some difference with % speeders depending on the day of the week, although we have not counted regularly on Saturdays so this may not be statistically significant.
There is a noticeable increase in % speeders at either end of the village.

8. In Conclusion 9 in 10 vehicles (90 %) travel at less than 25mph.
Only 1 in 40 vehicles (2.4%) travel at 30mph or more.
Some sites experience higher than average or lower than average speeders perhaps due to open roads in parts of the village and self-limiting effects of pinch-points.
Although not statistically significant, there is some evidence in the data that when traffic flow is high the percentage of speeders is lower. This is perhaps due to bunching of vehicles causing congestion.
The overall trends indicate a decrease in speeders. This may be due to drivers being more accustomed to the 20mph limit together with monitoring by CSW.
CSW will be continuing to monitor speeds into the future.
The team will give a warm welcome any new members!