Hello Rutland North,

The update a lot of you have been asking for! 

Road Safety is one of the three priorities that you have told us that you want your Dedicated Neighbourhood Team to tackle in Rutland. 

Well, today I have found time in between other tasking to go out with the speed laser (aka speed gun) and complete some work on this priority. #YouSaidWeDid 

I went to Clipsham for 30 minutes working in the 30mph speed limit. I am pleased to report that every vehicle seen driving on the road during that time was compliant with the speed limit… the speed gun wasn’t used for the high-speed military jet that flew over my head at the time! 

I then went to Thistleton for 30 minutes working in the 30mph speed limit. General compliance was good, when considering the overall percentage of vehicles that passed through. Unfortunately, 2 drivers that are local to the area were dealt with accordingly at the roadside for travelling 35mph and 37mph. 

I know from experience that this is a divisive topic on Police social media accounts. Therefore, I will try to address some of the frequent points and questions raised: 

Haven’t you got better things to do than target the road user? 

27% of fatal collisions in the UK were as a result of the combined factors of speeding and driving too fast (figures as of 2020). Also, the risk of death is four times higher when a pedestrian is hit at 40mph than at 30mph. And, fatal accidents are four times more likely on a rural “A” road than an urban “A” road. 

Whilst you were doing this who was dealing with other jobs? 

No calls for service were missed whilst I was conducting this proactive work that our communities have stated that they want us to do. I worked alone today and I am a Neighbourhoods officer, part of my role is to address the community priorities. There are response officers who work shift patterns covering 24/7 responding to live emergency and urgent jobs.

As soon as an emergency incident was called in and identified as requiring assistance from me, as was the case today, I stopped the speed gun work immediately and attended the emergency incident. 

You came to my village but not in the right place, or at the right time? 

The speed laser is a manually operated bit of machinery, it is not a speed camera. Therefore, when it is manually operated by a Police officer, like it was today, I need to be in a safe and suitable location to stop an offending vehicle and deal with the driver there and then. I also need a safe location to park my Police vehicle that is nearby in case of emergency and that also doesn’t obstruct the highway. There is quite a lot of criteria that need to be met to ensure that the device is used legally and also safely, unfortunately not every road is suitable for speed gun work. Some roads are better suited to the speed camera van. 

Due to having to balance this proactive work with the ongoing case load, it is difficult to commit to a time. For example, today if I had committed to go an hour later than I did, I wouldn’t have gone at all, because I then had to attend a live emergency incident. At the least it’s better to go when I can, then not at all. We do have upcoming operation days planned where this might be easier to facilitate, however the previous point will still apply in some capacity. 

I want to see you somewhere else?

We know that there are many places across Rutland that people have raised to us as a concern for speeding. We are making efforts to try and complete this proactive work as and when we can as part of Operation Numbers. We do also have the Road Safety Partnership Mobile Speed Camera Van that attends various locations in Rutland, you can view where they’ve been here - https://speedorsafety.com/. 

So, today I tried to prioritise areas where the speed camera van doesn’t currently attend. Unfortunately, we can’t be everywhere all at once and we have to balance this proactive work with our ongoing case load and other responsibilities. 

Why did you go where you went today? 

The two villages I attended today recently had speed monitoring devices deployed in their village. The speed monitoring devices identified a speed compliance issue. Therefore, this data along with residents wanting me to be there is why I attended the villages I did today. I had intended to attend more locations in other villages today – however as stated above in the post, other emergency and urgent tasking was required so it pulled me away from this. But I will be back out again soon! 

Have a safe and enjoyable evening Rutland and please drive carefully, thank you. 

PC 1049 Jake Spruce