South Yorkshire Police leading the way to combat speeding motorists

Speed is a contributory factor in one in three fatal collisions and a quarter of all crashes resulting in serious injury.

Starting today, as part of National Road Safety Week, South Yorkshire Police (SYP) along with South Yorkshire Safer Roads Partnership (SYSRP) and South Yorkshire Safety Camera Partnership (SYSC), will be carrying out activities to promote the 2020 theme: No Need to Speed.

Inspector Jason Booth, SYP Roads Policing Group, said: “Nationally, speed contributes to one in five collisions and our communities continually tell us that it’s one of the priorities they want us to focus on.

“While we are unable to run Community Speed Watch due to Covid-19 restrictions, we will be running our own operations and hosting check sites across all four districts.

“It is very much part of our daily business and we will continue to ensure that those people risking lives by breaking the law, will be prosecuted.

“There really is no excuse when it comes to speed and from Monday, along with our partners, we will be supporting the national effort to combat speeding.”

Co-ordinated by road safety charity Brake, Road Safety Week 2020 will encourage everyone to learn the what, the why, and the where of speed and will highlight that whether someone is walking to school, cycling into town or driving for work, the speed of traffic matters to their safety.

Joanne Wehrle, manager of SYSRP, said: “Speed is a critical issue for the safety of our roads – no one was ever killed by a stationary vehicle.

“We all have a part to play in keeping each other safe and we want to help everyone understand why speed matters.

“Every mile per hour you travel above the speed limit, massively increases the risk of fatally injuring someone in a collision. We hope you will join us to say there is ‘No Need to Speed’ on our roads.”

The Safer Roads team will be sharing videos, games, activity sheets and facts

around the topic of speed via their website and social media channels.

The mobile safety camera team will be out at Community Concern sites – locations where members of the public have raised concerns about the speed of vehicles.

In these confusing and worrying times, local journalism is more vital than ever. Thanks to everyone who helps us ask the questions that matter by taking out a digital subscription or buying a paper. We stand together. Nancy Fielder, editor.