Calls for more speeding enforcement on smaller West Midlands roads

Members of the West Midlands Police and Crime Panel welcomed the news that almost £200,000 had been invested in new mobile speed camera vans in the region.

But Erdington councillor Gareth Moore and Izzy Knowles, who represents Moseley, said there needed to be increased activity and enforcement on smaller roads with 20 mph restrictions.

West Midlands Police and Crime Commissioner Simon Foster said the deployment of the vans would be a operational decision by the police.

But he added he would anticipate they would be used in areas of highest need and also said he had invested in speed devices that could be used by officers as well as Speed Watch groups in their own areas.

Councillor Moore said: “While it’s welcome there has been that investment in terms of the new speed camera vans one of the challenges I find, certainly from my conversations with police, is those can’t be used on residential roads.

“They are more used for dual carriageways, where speeding is obviously a significant issue. But it’s also something which blights residential roads and dealing with the aftermath of two accidents that took place within Erdington over the weekend – one of those on a typically quiet residential road near a primary school.

“(Can) those additional speed camera vans can be used to help tackle that aspect of speeding, or will it just be additional enforcement on the main carriageways, which, whilst welcome, doesn’t address those initial concerns that keep being raised with me?”

Councillor Knowles said: “I very much welcome the speed control vans and the hand held devices and I know my neighbourhood team is able to get access to one of those. The information that’s coming from the council feels as though those devices are going to be used on the main roads, whereas residents tend to want them to be used in 20-mph zones.

“That’s where they’re witnessing the really poor driving and speeding and that tends to be where the speed watch groups go to as well. You need to be able to have that if you’re doing a community speed watch. People lose faith if that doesn’t then result in a bit of enforcement later on if those hotspots are identified.”

Mr Foster said: “Essentially, that is an operational policing decision for the roads policing unit and the road crimes team and the road harm prevention team working together with the local neighbourhood teams as well in consultation with the local authorities.

“Although we’ve doubled the number, plainly, eight is a resource that has to be spread across the entirety of the West Midlands.

“I have purchased 16 additional speed devices that have been circulated across the seven local policing areas and are available to local neighbourhood teams to engage in community speed watch. They’re also available for enforcement by properly trained police officers.

“I would anticipate policing would want to ensure those vans are used in those areas where they will have the biggest impact, and to an extent, I don’t doubt that will at least in part be governed by KSI data to determine where the locations will be.

“I understand there are about 140 hot spot locations across the West Midlands that are targeted for road safety camera vans, and there is a 12-month rolling process to dynamically assess those areas and keep them under constant review.”

He added there has been more investment into the road policing unit in the last 18 months than in the last 15 years.