Kings Somborne Community Speedwatch Quarterly Report
Quarter 3 2018
General
During the quarter, 9 one-hour sessions were held and a total of 246 vehicles reported for passing our device at 35mph or more.
We continue to exert pressure on Hampshire Constabulary to have the police speed van visit King’s Somborne more frequently, but despite several requests to Police Sergeant Gary Lyons who promised to contact the ‘safer Roads Team’, to date nothing has happened. This despite the data collected via our device which clearly shows that this village has a speeding problem on the A3057 (which passes the village schools).
During one session in Furzedown Road/Junction with Eldon Road, our device recorded a BMW at 70mph! This was going uphill towards Braishfield and close to the blind exit from Hoplands. The Police informed me that the entry in the Police database would flag this up as an exception and provided the owner lived in Hampshire, they would receive a police visit. I am unsure if this occurred.
Following a ‘near miss’ in Vicarage lane involving a speeding vehicle and school children walking to school, we held a special additional session here on 14th September and recorded 2 vehicles speeding during the hour. The mother who reported the near miss has also written to Sgt. Lyons and is encouraging other mothers who walk to school to do likewise in an attempt to encourage the appearance of the illusive speed van.
Sessions in Quarter 2
The site on the A3057 Romsey Road close to Horsebridge Road remains by far the most ‘productive’ site of those approved by Hampshire Constabulary. We have introduced sessions here at midday and reported an average of one vehicle speeding every 2 minutes, indicating that traffic speeds at this point at all times of the day (and possibly night). One session at this site was cancelled due to traffic lights/roadworks, associated with the Virgin Media fibre installation.
Here is the data for the quarter:
| Date | Location | # of Vehicles Reported | Maximum Speed Reported | Average Speed of Vehicles Reported |
| 6th July 2018 | Romsey Road | 80 | 49mph | 37.8mph |
| 13th July 2018 | Romsey Road | 20 | 41mph | 37.3mph |
| 23rd July 2018 | Furzedown Road | 7 | 70mph | 43.3mph |
| 31st July 2018 | Romsey Road | 68 | 46mph | 38.0mph |
| 6th August 2018 | Winchester Road | 0 | N/A | N/A |
| 21st August 2018 | Village Green | 1 | 37mph | 37mph |
| 31st August 2018 | Romsey Road | 64 | 43mph | 37.2mph |
| 10th September 2018 | Winchester Road | 4 | 37mph | 36.3mph |
| 14th September 2018 | Vicarage Lane | 2 | 41mph | 39mph |
| TOTALS | 246 | 70mph | 38.2mph |
| Site | Number of Vehicles Reported at Site | Average Reported Vehicles per Session | Maximum Speed Recorded | Average Speed Recorded |
| Furzedown Road | 7 | 7 | 70mph | 43.3mph |
| Romsey Road | 232 | 58 | 49mph | 37.6mph |
| Village Green | 1 | 1 | 37mph | 37mph |
| Vicarage Lane | 2 | 2 | 41mph | 39mph |
| Winchester Road | 4 | 2 | 37mph | 36.3mph |
Team News
Last month I reported that the team membership stood at 6 and more volunteers were needed. We are now up to a healthier 9 members following marketing campaigns on and off line. Membership remains open and we could operate more frequently with more members.
Session Operations
We still encounter operational problems at the Romsey Road site due to the high volume of vehicles travelling at excessive speeds. The manual recording process means that we estimate that we miss more vehicles speeding than we recorded at this site.
Thankfully, we encounter few examples of abuse during sessions, with most driver’s who acknowledge our presence showing gestures of support!
Hampshire Constabulary Liaison and Communications
We have had no visits and no unprompted communications from members of Hampshire Constabulary during the quarter.
As mentioned in the ‘general’ section, despite evidence of habitual speeding on the A3057, we continue to apply pressure in an attempt to have the speed van visit more frequently, but to date this has not occurred.
Action and Support Required
- Can the PC lobby Hampshire Constabulary to seek the support of the Speed Van? The statistics here could be used as supporting evidence.
- I will continue to place ads in Facebook from which we recently recruited willing team members.