AN early morning Community Speedwatch session, conducted on Jockey Hill in Crediton on Wednesday, September 6, identified a number of vehicles exceeding the speed limit.

The Speedwatch was conducted by Town Councillor Steve Huxtable and Frank Letch, Devon County Councillor, Chairman of Mid Devon District Council and Crediton Town Councillor.

A total of 251 cars were monitored of which 51 were recorded driving at speeds of 35mph or more.

Community Speedwatch volunteers operate under Devon and Cornwall Police and aim to make communities safer by reducing vehicle speeds.

Volunteers assist the police in achieving this aim by monitoring vehicle speeds in locations where speeding is known to be a problem, logging details of vehicles exceeding the speed limit.

Using the information collated, a staged warning system is employed issuing advisory letters to the registered keepers of speeding vehicles.

Volunteers are trained in health and safety and on how to use the speed monitoring equipment. They are registered and only operate at police approved sites.

The database, as at Friday, September 8, has live stats accumulated from results collected by Speedwatch groups in the Devon and Cornwall Police area. This shows that in the last 30 days 2,331 speeding offence records were handled automatically and passed on to the local Police for further action.

Warning letters were sent as a result, and other cases are waiting to be processed.

During this period the maximum speed recorded in a 20mph zone was 62 mph, but 170 records of excessive speeding were flagged up for special attention.

A total of 43 vehicles were recorded as multiple offenders; details of these vehicles have been passed on to the Road Traffic Policing Departments where they will be kept for 12 months. Dependent on the number or severity of the details special attention could include a visit from the local Neighbourhood Policing Team.

Community Speed Watch needs more volunteers in the Crediton area to assist Devon and Cornwall Police.

If you are concerned about the danger posed by speeding vehicles visit: www.communityspeedwatch.org for more information.

Nora Parminter