Please evidence statements made about "Community speed watch"
Dear Dorset Police,
I have some questions relating to recent publications from Dorset Police about “Community Speed Watch”:
https://news.dorset.police.uk/news-artic...
‘Dorset Police’s CSW Coordinator Maria Attwood said: “Last week showed a real collaboration between the volunteers and uniform colleagues working together to keep the roads of Dorset safer for all users and the figures speak for themselves.”’
1. Please could you detail what actual figures are being referred to, to conclude that CSW are keeping the roads safer?
‘“These volunteers are passionate about the safety of their villages and towns and do a fantastic job in helping drivers slow down and prevent casualties.’ ….‘“Community Speed Watch schemes provide a visible presence in an area, which ultimately leads to cars slowing down and fewer collisions occurring. '
2. Please can you detail the speed, casualty, and collision reductions that have been achieved by CSW and how these figures have been calculated?
‘“My advice to anyone travelling through Dorset is to stick to the speed limit – you won't get to your destination any later, you will make the roads safer and our communities will be quieter.”’
3. Please can you explain how sticking to the limit won’t get you to your destination later?
‘… dedication and commitment of our volunteers, which helps toward creating a tangible difference to the safety of all road users.”
4. Please quantify that tangible difference and explain how it has been calculated?
“Each and every volunteer is a valuable asset who all help reduce road casualties….“The success Dorset has in keeping the county’s roads safe is in large part down to their work,”
6. Please quantify the estimated casualty reduction per volunteer and how this has been calculated?
Also, from an article last year:
https://www.dorset.pcc.police.uk/news-an...
‘I want to send my thanks to every Speedwatch team for the vital work they are doing to help combat dangerous driving on our roads. Not only do the volunteers help keep our roads safe but they do so whilst experiencing an increasing level of abuse from the public. Over the last year, there has been an increase in the number of drivers shouting highly abusive language or making obscene gestures to the teams whilst they are conducting speed checks, with over 240 instances recorded so far this year. I want to take this opportunity to make it clear that this behaviour is not acceptable. I am even more shocked to find out that some drivers are putting themselves and other road users at risk just to be abusive to the volunteers by taking both hands off their steering wheel to make insulting gestures, over-revving engines and using their mobile phones to video volunteers.’
7. Please can you explain what figure has been put on the increased risk / danger caused to the public and “volunteers” due to the obvious negative aspects of CSW, including the positioning of groups of people at the side of the road close to moving traffic, obviously creating considerable distraction and aggression in drivers?
Yours faithfully,
Ian Belchamber
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Dear Ian Belchamber,
Please find attached the response to your above numbered Freedom of
Information Request.
Kind regards,
Amelia Searle
Alliance Freedom of Information Officer
Alliance Information Management Department
Telephone: 01202 222 610
Address: Elliot House, Devon and Cornwall Police, HQ Middlemoor, EX2 7HQ
The Devon & Cornwall Police logo sits on the left, the Dorset Police logo
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For more information, or to contact us, please visit us at
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Dear .Freedom of Information,
This is a very poor response, which seems to pretend to answer the questions (which are about some quite direct claims of CSW benefit) but does not provide any of the actual data requested. There is also a false claim of casualty continuing to fall.
If the data does not exist it would be far more honest just to say so.
I do not intend to pursue the FOI failure but will respond by article http://www.dorsetspeed.org.uk/2024/nov.a...
Yours sincerely,
Ian Belchamber
Thank you for your email submitted to the Freedom of Information (FOI)
Team for Dorset Police and Devon & Cornwall Police.
If your email relates to a new FOI request please accept this
auto-response as a formal acknowledgement.
Should we need to clarify any aspect of your request we will contact you
regarding this but please be aware that the 20 working day deadline will
not begin until the clarification has been received.
If your email relates to an ongoing request we will respond to your email
as soon as possible.
Please note that we are experiencing high volumes of requests and staff
shortages which, in some cases, is impacting on our ability to comply with
the 20 working day statutory deadline. Please be assured that we are
working on all current and outstanding requests and will get a response to
you as soon as possible. Please bear in mind that when we receive
enquiries regarding late requests, responding to these enquiries can cause
further delay and can hinder the Team from restoring compliance with the
statutory timeframe.
Thank you in advance for your patience whilst we work through this
challenging period.
E-mail should not be regarded as a secure means of communication, we take
all reasonable steps to ensure that e-mails are protected from malware,
but cannot accept liability for any loss or damage, howsoever arising, as
a result of their transmission to the recipients' computer or network.
*************************************************************************
For more information, or to contact us, please visit us at
[1]www.devon-cornwall.police.uk or [2]www.dorset.police.uk
References
Visible links
1. https://www.devon-cornwall.police.uk/
2. https://www.dorset.police.uk/
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