Road safety was identified as one of the top three issues of concern in Antrim and Newtownabbey Policing and Community Safety Partnership Action Plan.
Community consultation revealed that 33% of respondents highlighted road safety, particularly speeding, as a concern. To tackle this, Antrim and Newtownabbey PCSP launched a new Rural Road Safety Project - Community Speed Watch in partnership with a number of agencies; PSNI; Department for Infrastructure (DfI); Antrim and Newtownabbey Borough Council and local village communities.
The project involved the installation of 12 Speed Indicator Devices within villages across Antrim and Newtownabbey Borough in response to road safety being identified across all village development plans as an issue of high concern.
Speed Indicator Devices (SIDs) are temporary vehicle activated signs which detect and display real-time vehicle speeds in an attempt to change drivers’ speed behaviour.
They also store data on all approaching vehicles irrespective of speed, which includes the number of vehicles detected, the average speeds of the vehicles, the number of speed violations and the speed reductions being achieved by the signs. Volunteers from local village committees were responsible for mounting the SIDs at various locations and collating the data to refer onto project partners, including the PSNI.
The community led project gave local villages the opportunity to manage the initiative and empowered the community to take a proactive role in helping to address road safety within their village.
The future plans for this project
- Will better target enforcement activity based on information gathered by the devices in relation to date, time and speed (MPH) of each recorded traffic movement.
- The project will continue to improve confidence in policing
- Will provide social benefits by contributing to community confidence, reassurance and local empowerment and promote greater community understanding and discussions relating to road safety.
- Improve road safety for all the villages by educating and informing drivers about their speeds which may work to reduce the number of road traffic collisions across the Borough.
- Continue to empower local village/ community groups to take a proactive role in helping to address road safety issue- speeding within their area.
Antrim & Newtownabbey have recently purchased a mobile SID that will be deployed by the PSNI across the Borough.
SPEED INDICATOR DEVICES (SID) RECORDS VEHICLE SPEEDS BUT WILL NOT BE USED FOR THE PURPOSES OF CRIMINAL PROSECUTION. IT DOES NOT RECORD REGISTRATION NUMBERS.