'We are there to stop people being killed' - Street Community Speed Watch team

In a decade of being part of the Community Speed Watch team that covers Street, Ashley Reay has, perhaps surprisingly, only been directly assaulted twice, with enraged motorists getting out of the car and remonstrating with the former Cadbury executive.

Other than some finger pointing and the odd expletive, he has worked for hours as a Community Speed Watch member, and now co-ordinator, standing at the side of the road uninjured.

But as Ashley is keen to stress: "The motorists don't understand we are not out to persecute them, or make money for the police, we are there to help stop people being killed on the roads, plain and simple.

"If we didn't need to be out there checking speeds, we would be the happiest of people, our job would be done."

Instead the hi-vis wearing team are out, in all kinds of weather, checking speeds and then giving the data onto the police, who in turn can warn motorists directly to slow down, or face the consequences next time they do speed, or pass it across to highways to persuade them to put in better traffic controls.

Volunteers are not paid, but they are trained and then they can help with as little as one hour a week monitoring speeds with a Speed Indication Device.

A SID is what the volunteers point at drivers - and they are very used to getting a finger wave or two back.

"But that's not the point, we don't do it because we want to attack drivers or persecute them," Ashley said.

"We would be happy if we were so successful we weren't needed anymore."

Currently there is a dire shortage of volunteers across many areas in Mendip, including Street, and the need to record speeds is extra important, as stressful lives are often blamed for drivers going too fast.

The number one culprit in the ranks of speeding motorists? Mums dropping their children at school.

CSW currently has around 150 volunteers around Mendip, from six groups in 2012 to 27 in 2017, but there are some pockets where they don't have any members at all, so they are appealing for more volunteers.

The youngest you can be to take part is 16, full training is given but, as Ashley says, the most important thing is that you want to make a difference, not that you are vitriolic and want to punish road users.

"Sometimes it feels like you are wasting your time," admits Ashley. "But being there by the side of the road, you need to know that what you are doing makes other drivers slow down and take care.

"You don't know how many drivers slow down, you only record those who are still speeding. But you are making a difference."

To join Community Speed Watch, or just to learn more, you can contact Ashley Reay on email:

[email protected].

The next Community Speed Watch AGM is on Thursday April 2 at the Salvation Army Hall, Old Magistrates Court, 21 Commercial Road, Shepton Mallet, at 7pm.

Community Speed Watch - Fact versus Fiction:

1. The police make loads of money out of speeding fines

If a motorist chooses to pay a speeding fine and accept the points, then all the money goes to the government. If they take a speed awareness course then the police get £35. That goes towards the maintenance costs of equipment.

1. Someone I know got a ticket for doing 33mph in a 30mph limit

In Avon and Somerset the threshold before a speeding ticket and a fine is issued is at least 10 per cent plus two, so that means a driver needs to be travelling at more than 35mph before they are recorded. The speed check equipment is pre-set so it can't register a lower speed.

1. My wife has been caught for doing 40mph in a 30mph limit. What can she expect as punishment?

She is likely to be offered a speed awareness course where she pays around £100 and gets no points. She can only complete one course every three years, so if she already has points in that period she will have three more, plus the fine.

1. Those Community Speed Watch people are a waste of time, they have no powers and my brother threw his warning letter in the bin.

It is true that he would not have got a fine or points from his CSW letter, but his vehicle would have been checked for tax, insurance and an MoT, and the details will be on the police computer and passed to the Speed Enforcement Unit, who will be checking his speed when they are next in the area. CSW data is also shared with other police forces.

1. I don't need to slow down, I know what I am doing, I am a good driver.

The next time you see a road traffic police officer, ask him what it is like to have to go and knock on the door and tell the family that their young daughter has just been killed by a speeding vehicle. It could, and we of course hope not, be your child.