Watching your speed
POLICE will be cracking down on speeding in a Wear Valley village after they found a quarter of drivers ignored the existing speed limit.The Durham and Darlington Road Casualty Reduction Forum has found that 25 per cent of drivers through Hunwick are exceeding the 30mph speed limit, and a period of increased enforcement action will start immediately.
PC Dave Nixon said that people needed a reminder about the dangers of speeding, and explained there will be extra patrols along the B6286 armed with lasers and cameras, but that this won’t interfere with front line operations.
PC Nixon said: “We won’t be taking officers away from other areas, but just make sure that when they’re not responding to a call they are monitoring areas where speeding is a particular problem.
“The roads are getting more dangerous and people need to drive appropriately all the time. “We would love it if people would take our message on board and just slow down without us having to write any tickets, but unfortunately we sometimes need to give a gentle prod just to remind people to not speed.
“We will be issuing fixed tickets which mean a £60 fine and three points on the licence, but rest assured for the selfish minority who really don’t care about the communities they recklessly drive through, the penalties will be far more severe.
“People need to understand that driving is a privilege, not a right, and when you’ve picked up body parts off the road you realise just how serious speeding is. “We want drivers to have more concern for the people who live by the roadside, and make them realise that their driving has a big impact on other people.
“This is a short, sharp period of enforcement, and hopefully people will get the message and not speed. “Because believe it or not police officers don’t enjoy writing out speeding tickets. “ It’s a lot of paper work which we don’t like doing, and hopefully people will slow down of their own accord without us punishing them for speeding.” Ian Richardson, landlord of the Joiners Arms pub which is located on the main street through the village welcomed the extra police presence, but thinks more may be needed to stop people speeding.
Ian said: “Speeding is a problem in Hunwick and there have been several accidents in the past. “Children play on the green, and its not a good thing to have cars speeding past them, especially if one of their balls accidentally goes into the road. I think more enforcement would be a good thing for the village, but what we could really do with is is a camera or one of those signs that flashes people’s speed at them as they go past.
“They seem to be quite effective and would hopefully put a stop to people speeding recklessly through Hunwick.”
