Residents Tackle Speeding
A resident in County Durham has taken speeding issues in the area into his own hands.
Mike Wrathmall from Billingham has come up with a creative way of deterring drivers from speeding along his street.
Mr Wrathmall built a bird box to resemble a speed camera and set it up in his garden. He built the fake camera out of wood and painted it grey and yellow to look like a speed camera. This creative solution came after residents grew concerned over the speed of vehicles in the area.
Comment
Mr Wrathmall said
“We have people who just zoom up and down. Residents have been on for years trying to get something done but no one’s done anything. I’m just concerned that there will be a crash one of these days.”
Speed related offences make up 85% of all UK’s driving offences. The number of speeding cases in the last year has shot up by 8%. Data from the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) shows 3.3 million drivers currently have points on their license for speeding.
Research
New research has found the top 5 worst offending areas for speeding:
- B (Birmingham) – 91566 offences
- S (Sheffield) – 74069 offences
- NG (Nottingham) – 71536 offences
- BS (Bristol) 65519 – offences
- LS (Leeds) 59893 – offences
Cleveland police have discouraged Mr Wrathmall’s actions. But this inventive solution isn’t illegal. In the past, concerned residents have made fake speeding signs, which is illegal.
Comment
A spokesperson for Cleveland Police said:
“We carry out ongoing community speed enforcement work and mobile speed cameras have been deployed in this area. We are not investigating this matter as an offence but we’d always encourage people to report speeding issues to police on 101 in the first instance so we can take enforcement action.”
The average penalty for speeding is 3 points on your license and a £100 fine. But some penalties can go up to 6 points and £2500. Serious offences will result in a driving ban.
Mr Wrathmall said a happy by-product of his installation is the wildlife it has brought to the area. He said since the fake camera went up he has seen Blue Tits using it as their new bright yellow home.
How Can We Help?
Our telematics solutions helps your fleet become safer drivers. Cutting edge ranking systems score drivers on their speeding and encourage them to stick within the limit. Your online account portal allows you to see how your fleet is behaving in real-time at the touch of a button.
Residents Tackle Speeding
