OVER 500 motorists have been caught speeding in just one month as local campaigners, backed by the police, clamp down on dangerous driving.
More speed checks have been held in and around the Frome area following continuing public concerns about high levels of speeding and requests for the police and speed enforcement to take extra action.
Frome police, equipped with hand-held radar and ultralight speed recording devices, are now regularly seen around the area and this equipment is being supplemented by automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) to check also for Tax, MOT and other issues. It is not all about prosecutions as many motorists were given roadside advice about their driving habits and urged to understand why they had been stopped. Regrettably, though, some have been reported for prosecution for a variety of offences.
On top of their usual weekly checks, speed enforcement joined their police colleagues recently to carry out high profile checks at the areas worst reported for excess speed.
Ashley Reay, from the Mendip Community Speed Watch, who was invited to monitor the special operation said, “In all my years working with speed enforcement and the police, I have never seen such outrageous examples of speeding. Near to the Asda superstore and the 30 mph zone, some 375 vehicles were recorded as exceeding the threshold for prosecution in only two days and at times, one vehicle every 6 seconds was recorded at speeds well in excess of the posted limit.
“If the figures at this stretch of road are added to others, then at this site alone over 475 vehicles have been reported for speeding offences in less than a month and if the area total is looked at in a 4-week period then over 500 vehicles were recorded at excess speeds. All will be prosecuted with some speeds so high and over 50mph, that the drivers will be going straight to court where the penalties for speeding are much higher than the usual £100 and 3 penalty points.
“This was, and continues to be, an appalling example of road traffic offences and the effect is that the police and speed enforcement will be attending at even more times both day and night. If the speeding motorist thinks that it is a battle that can be won and Frome is to be used as a racetrack, then they are sadly mistaken. All that is being asked is for the motorists to slow down. Not too much to ask surely?”
