Village cracks down on speeders
RESIDENTS frustrated by the speed of motorists on a rural road have begun reporting the registration numbers of offending vehicles to the police.Occupants of homes beside the narrow road through the village of Thwaite, near Eye, and some of the drivers using the stretch, fear that one day there could be a serious accident.
RESIDENTS frustrated by the speed of motorists on a rural road have begun reporting the registration numbers of offending vehicles to the police.
Occupants of homes beside the narrow road through the village of Thwaite, near Eye, and some of the drivers using the stretch, fear that one day there could be a serious accident.
Police have been alerted to the situation and have undertaken to patrol the road when resources allow.
However, local people have now begun to note down the registration numbers of speeding vehicles and are passing them to the police.
An item in the latest edition of the village newsletter, headed Speeding Drivers Beware, said: "Residents and other more considerate drivers who use the road have expressed real and repeated concern, with their frustration now leading to a mood of assisting the police by noting details of speeding vehicles for onward transmission to them.
"Such action is not intended to be vindictive or spiteful towards drivers but it can be a dangerous road, especially with the increase in heavy commercial traffic, and excessive speed can be a threat to life of both people and animals, quite apart from the damage it can cause to the appearance of the road by cutting up verges."
Most Read
- 1 No timescale for when Suffolk road closed due to flooding can reopen
- 2 Snow possible overnight as 50mph gusts set to arrive in Suffolk
- 3 'Ipswich did so much for me' - Knight excited for Town return with Crewe after dream Manchester City move
- 4 Case of new Omicron Covid variant identified in Essex
- 5 Fire breaks out at British Sugar Factory
- 6 Face masks to be compulsory in shops and public transport, PM announces
- 7 Dispersal order put in place for coastal town
- 8 Nearly 150 homes to go on land no longer needed for jobs
- 9 More than 20 drivers caught at speeds of 100mph on A14 within an hour
- 10 Hitchhiker died after being hit by lorry wing mirror on A143
The newsletter said local people were not expecting prosecutions and convictions to result from the noting of registration numbers.
"While the reporting of speeding vehicles is unlikely to result in a police conviction it will, nevertheless, label those offenders who repeatedly flaunt the speed restriction of this stretch of road with the police taking note and, at the very least, serving a caution to those responsible," it said.
The road through the village has a 30mph speed limit and is often used by slow-moving farm traffic, as well as people taking a short cut through to the A140 from villages to the west. It is a narrow road and includes a number of "blind" bends.
"It should be emphasised that this callous indifference to the speed limit and safety arises from just a few of the many drivers now using this route but it only takes one idiot behind the wheel of a potentially lethal motor vehicle to cause a deadly result," the newsletter said.
One local resident, who asked not to be named, said people were sick of finding ducks killed on the road and fear that one day it will be a child or adult.
"The speed merchants are a small minority and include young male and female drivers. Speeding vehicles range from small, older cars to new Range Rovers," he added.
A Suffolk police spokesman said there was no-one available to comment.
