Skip to main content

West Midlands schoolchildren help to educate speeding motorists

Pupils from Salisbury Primary School in Darlaston, West Midlands, UK, recently took part in a Community Speedwatch initiative with West Midlands Police, using a Speedwatch system supplied by UK company Traffic Technology. Under police supervision, the children were given the opportunity to read the data obtained by the Speedwatch device and relay it to the rest of the group, which transferred the information on vehicle type, colour, registration and speed to a specially-produced form. The children then used
May 25, 2017 Read time: 2 mins
Pupils from Salisbury Primary School in Darlaston, West Midlands, UK, recently took part in a Community Speedwatch initiative with West Midlands Police, using a Speedwatch system supplied by UK company 561 Traffic Technology.

Under police supervision, the children were given the opportunity to read the data obtained by the Speedwatch device and relay it to the rest of the group, which transferred the information on vehicle type, colour, registration and speed to a specially-produced form.

The children then used the data in a maths lesson at school to work out means, modes, ratios and more. They will also write a letter to drivers in their English lesson to highlight how they feel about speeding and the effect it could have on them and their family. This will be sent to violating motorists, along with the official police letter.

Richard Collins of West Midlands Police, who conducted the initiative, said the equipment is ideal for community speed watch schemes, easy to use, precise and most importantly not confrontational. He continued, “I feel that is import to get members of the public involved in such schemes, particularly the children as these are the adults of the future. Not only is it a great way of building trust and confidence between police and the community  it can also be used as an aid to education.”

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Are road user charging systems too complicated?
    February 27, 2012
    At any conference or exhibition, it tends to be the ad libs and asides, the departures from the scripted or official lines, which are the most telling. In mid-February, ITS-UK's Road User Charging Interest Group met in London. The event was no exception to that statement. Keith Mortimer, the Group's chairman, and his colleagues put together one of the better programmes on charging and tolling that I've seen in recent years. Sadly, however, the very positive presentations on deployments and technological pro
  • Tolling industry volunteers help Oklahoma boys find ‘home’
    August 19, 2015
    IBTTA volunteers restore and upgrade facilities at an Oklahoma boys home during its annual Maintenance & Roadway Operations Workshop. Oklahoma receives an average of 55 tornado strikes each year. Some are small; others are huge and violent. All inspire fear. “It sounded like a freight train was headed for my house.” That’s how people often describe the sound they hear just befo
  • Distraction dominated teen driver accident causes.
    June 3, 2015
    As a new report shows that distracted driving is a bigger cause of accidents than previously thought, Jon Masters asks what should be done to counter this problem. Research carried out by the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety has shed new light on the dangers of distraction for teen drivers. Six years of study using video analysis has shown that 58% of all crashes involving teen drivers are caused by the driver being distracted and proved that the influence of external factors is stronger than previously th
  • How C/AVs could serve rural communities
    July 23, 2019
    In Ireland, there is low population density and a lot of rain – which can make last-mile journeys a trial. Orla O’Halloran at Arup has some thoughts on how C/AVs could serve rural communities Connected and autonomous vehicles (C/AVs) have the potential to be a vital link for people in rural communities, as part of a wider Mobility as a Service (MaaS) solution. That is the view of Orla O’Halloran, intelligent mobility consultant at Arup. She believes that MaaS needs to be considered in conjunction with ot