Road deaths and serious injuries drop by 25% in Wiltshire
The PCC says he wants to see further improvements
Deaths and serious injuries on Wiltshire's roads fell by 25% in the last year - following a sevenfold increase in the previous three years.
The county's Police and Crime Commissioner, Philip Wilkinson, says he wants to see more improvements:
“Since I became Police and Crime Commissioner in 2022, there was a clear demand from the public to make our roads safer.
“To do that, I’ve introduced a number of measures to not only reduce speeding, but to ensure strong partnership work between all agencies involved with driver education, cycle and pedestrian safety, and supporting awareness campaigns such as “Project Edward” and the “Fatal 5”; Speeding, The Wearing of Seatbelts, Drink and Drugs, Driver Distraction and Careless Driving.
“There will be people who say that actions like this unfairly target motorists, but it’s clear from our surveys, and from the Facebook Live events hosted by our Neighbourhood Policing Teams, speeding and road safety are amongst the key issues our residents are concerned about.
“Over the last year, serious injury and deaths on our roads have reduced by 25%. I’m keen to increase that figure through better educating drivers, and where necessary, penalising them when they break the law.”
Wiltshire's Community Speedwatch scheme is being credited with helping to reduce the number of drivers using our roads too quickly, and potentially causing crashes.
Over 1,200 volunteers are part of the programme, with a number of Speed Indicator Devices (SIDs) installed at speeding hotspots.
The PCC's also funded three Community Speed Enforcement Officers (CSEO) to help with enforcement of limits.
Jenn Holton, Harm Reduction Lead at Wiltshire Police, said:
“The increase in fines reflects the additional resource we have been able to introduce over the last few years to target high-harm offenders who are causing significant risk on our roads, and create a safer road network for everyone who uses it.
“We now have dedicated Community Speed Enforcement Officers who target areas where we know there are issues with speeding. These officers have specialist video equipment which then allow us to prosecute speeders, resulting in speed awareness courses, fines, and, for persistent or high-harm offenders, visits to court.
“Where these officers operate is based on the information and intelligence we receive from the public, as well as the many hours of work that our teams of Community Speed Watch volunteers put in across Swindon and Wiltshire.
“Even one speeder is too many. There’s a reason it is one of the fatal five offences – the offences which are most likely to lead to a serious injury or fatal collision. As we have seen all too often, speed kills.
“Not only that but it causes a significant amount of concern and frustration for pedestrians and other road users when people speed recklessly on the road.
“We are determined to clamp down on speeding and make our roads as safe as possible for everyone.”