'More imaginative’ enforcement of speed limits needed, says crime commissioner

Policing needs to be ‘more imaginative’ about enforcing 20mph speed limits around the Thames Valley, says the crime commissioner.

Several members of the Thames Valley Police and Crime Panel sought an indication of how seriously Thames Valley Police were taking speed limit enforcement during public questions at a meeting on Friday, March 13.

They agreed that lives were at risk if 20mph speed limits on local roads were not enforced.

Oxfordshire County Councillor Laura Gorton said the community speed watch in her area has recorded speeds of up to 70 miles an hour through the 20mph zone.

“Even when we are seeing a very clear pattern of offending that is evidently creating danger, including fatalities to children, we’re still not seeing that enforcement,” she said.

“What do we need to do to demonstrate the need for that enforcement?”

PCC Matthew Barber said tackling speeding remains one of the ‘important areas’, through a range of fixed and mobile cameras, officer enforcement and community speed watch, and a new Roads Policing Unit Tasking Team launched last month.

“Speeding is not the only thing that causes significant danger on our roads. It is a factor,” he added.

“The methods of enforcement are very different.

“Sticking a camera up doesn’t detect someone driving inebriated.

“That’s why we have the tasking team being introduced, which looks at a more holistic picture around enforcement.”

Inappropriate speed, for example, is harder to enforce when someone is within the speed limit and driving inappropriately for the road conditions, he said.

Mr Barber also said there will always be a capacity issue with enforcement.

“The introduction of a speed limit doesn’t automatically mean there will be a greater level of enforcement,” he told the panel.

“There is a mix of policing that needs to be led operationally where there is the greatest risk.”

Road users generally slow down in 20mph zones, so a speed limit may well have the intended consequence of making that road safer, he added.

Wokingham Borough Councillor Stephen Newton said he would be concerned if Thames Valley Police diverted resources to support enforcement in specific areas such as Oxfordshire.

“I would be quite concerned if more was diverted to a particular area to try and address a new requirement at our expense,” he said.

“What’s in the best interest of all residents within the area, as all residents are paying?”

Cllr Newton said any council seeking additional policing arrangements in its area could do so with extra funding.

“I’m not trying to say that we all pay for our own vigilante police officers, but…rather than it being subsidised by everybody else, then that might be something the council could fund themselves.”

Cllr Newton also said drivers have a major responsibility to drive within the constraints and conditions of the road.

“There is an element here of trying to promote amongst drivers why compliance is appropriate and not just seek the enforcement route,” he said.

Mr Barber agreed and said that whatever the speed limit, it is best achieved when the driver understands the road and it is ‘intelligible and understandable’ to the vast majority.

“Then police enforcement is about those who are the outliers, the ones who egregiously break it,” he added.

Mr Barber said there are already routes for PCSOs to do speed enforcement, citing the example of traffic PCSOs in Greater Manchester Police.

“I think there are those opportunities. PCSOs are doing other duties, so there's always a draw somewhere. But I think we need to be a bit more imaginative about it,” said the commissioner.

“The evolution of the tasking team – they are new, they are relatively small, but I’m optimistic about the work they are going to do.

“If that proves effective, then an expansion of that team can do a whole range of enforcement, which will make our roads much safer.”