POLICE say they will support efforts to improve traffic safety in Staindrop – but won’t act on “unreliable” evidence to crack down on speeding motorists.
Parish councillors in the village are pushing for a safe crossing of the A688 due to the volume and speed of traffic passing through.
They also want police to take action against drivers that have been caught multiple times on a council-owned speed camera travelling at more than double the 30mph limit.
However, head of Barnard Castle neighbourhood police team Insp Mike Sammut told members at their latest meeting photographs of those caught speeding could not be used because of concerns about the reliability of the council’s device.
He added: “I can’t look at the data you give me and say there is definitively a speeding issue and the reason for that is because it is not calibrated, so the veracity is in question.”
The inspector said police relied on their own data, including that collected from speedwatch operations and surveys, to determine where speeding problems exist.
Current official statistics show that, on average, motorists adhere to the speed limit in Staindrop, he said.
Parish council chairman Cllr Jonathan Raper suggested police data is not a true reflection of the problem because drivers slow down when they see the highly visible police speedwatch van, and also other drivers use their headlights to warn oncoming vehicles of the police presence.
He argued that speedwatch data was being used by police to “justify inaction”.
Cllr Roger Humphries asked if the council’s data could be used by police to do their own enquiries to catch those who are repeatedly breaking the speed limit.
He added: “We have a situation here where there are two or three individuals who, on regular occasion,s are going through at twice the speed limit. Wouldn’t you follow that through?”
But Insp Sammut said this was not possible.
He added: “We can’t do enforcement on the back of that data, so even if you had a registration plate we couldn’t use that for enforcement.”
Cllr Ed Chicken said the purpose of the council’s speed camera was not for enforcement purposes, but rather to collect data to support attempts to get a safe crossing along the A688 in the village.
He added: “Please don’t thwart our attempt to use this data to make the argument for other traffic calming measures because we can prove the volume of traffic, which is an issue for people.”
Insp Sammut replied: “We aren’t going to thwart your attempt to improve safety in the village. I would never do that.
“Obviously if Durham County Council wants to see our data, we will give them the data.”
Cllr Dilys Caygill said: “If we just have your support, we would feel like we are making some progress. We have got an ageing population in the village, we have two schools, we have no crossing patrol, there has been a couple of close-shaves just recently, and residents are very concerned about the road situation.
“A pedestrian crossing would at least enable people to cross the road and slow down traffic.”
