Speeding and Speedwatch
March 2025
Road Safety: The Transport and Parking Advisory Committee has been working with residents of Red Lane and Surrey County Councillor Mark Sugden to introduce vehicle-activated signs – road signs triggered by the speed of a vehicle – as part of efforts to address excessive speed on this road.
TRAVEL AND ROAD SAFETY
More than 290 zones have been identified throughout Surrey for the possible introduction of 20mph speed limits as well as other proposals to promote active travel and improve road safety. One zone covers all of Claygate, except for land to the west of the railway line and the Ruxley estate, making it potentially eligible for a largely government-funded Local Street Improvements project.
But because government funding for these projects is linked closely to the imposition of 20mph limits, and because a significant majority of those who responded to last year’s Residents’ Survey was not in favour of a blanket 20mph limit across Claygate, the Parish Council will not be pushing to take part and will instead seek other ways to improve travel and safety in Claygate.
This decision was taken following a meeng held by Surrey County Council’s Local Street Improvements Project Team last month and aended by three Parish Councillors and one member of the Parish Council’s Transport and Parking Advisory Committee. The Parish Council decided to work with Elmbridge Borough Council in seeking opportunities for putting in place the street and road safety improvements recommended in the Claygate: The Way Forward report.
December 2024
| To receive a report from Speedwatch. |
| Mark reported that they recently had one member resign. They are now in receipt of new equipment. This is a battery-operated gun, so a cost for this will now be incurred. The need for new volunteers was noted. Mark will draft some material and send it to the Clerk for inclusion in our Social Media to see if we can get new volunteers. |
| (extract from Environment, Highways, and Transport Committee meeting, 12th December 2024, item 6) |
October 2024
| To receive a report from Speedwatch. |
| Mark reported that they currently have a team of eight or nine people who run single sessions twice a month. The equipment is still working adequately, and no vehicles without the correct documentation have been identified. Speedwatch is not seeing any more traffic through Claygate than usual. |
| (extract from Environment, Highways, and Transport Committee meeting, 3rd October 2024, item 7) |
SPEEDWATCH AIMS TO EDUCATE DRIVERS TO STICK TO THE LIMIT
The word "caught" is key to Claygate Speedwatch - it lies at the heart of what we do. Because Speedwatch is less about enforcement of speed limits and more about education and reminding drivers to respect the limits in each locality. Enforcement is for the constabularies, for legal reasons - and because they have extensive training and modern equipment.
Claygate Speedwatch is one of 78 such teams in Surrey and there are many more in Hampshire, Kent and Sussex. We all use the same computer system so being "caught" in one county could result in a warning letter if you are "caught" in another.
The Claygate Speedwatch team has eight members. All have been trained in a blended online and practical on-site training process. This ensures a common standard across all teams and equal treatment of all drivers.
The team also counts the vehicle traffic passing through Claygate, both to help with monitoring traffic growth in the village for the Parish Council, but also to determine best deployment of resources. We have six monitoring sites in Claygate (577 sites across Surrey), checked by the constabulary for suitability, and safety of drivers, pedestrians and the team. The team makes rotating visits to them monthly (builders' vans permitting!). We would like to recruit two more volunteers to the group so that we could monitor two sites a week, with volunteers taking one session per month.
From recent statistics across Surrey we know that 95 per cent of drivers who receive a warning letter do not re-offend. Claygate is fortunate in that fewer than one per cent of drivers exceeded the speed limit and more than 70 per cent of the drivers who are "caught" in the village are not from a Claygate postcode.
Following agreement between the constabularies, the warning sign (pictured above) is no longer required if the Speedwatch site is on a long straight stretch of road, such as Red Lane or Oaken Lane. Visit www.communityspeedwatch.org for more information, or to volunteer.
