Arundel and South Downs MP, Andrew Griffith, and Sussex Police and Crime Commissioner, Katy Bourne, visited Chiddingfold on the Surrey border with West Sussex, to see how recently installed Average Speed Cameras are helping local traffic speeds through the village.
Both Andrew Griffith and Katy Bourne want to bring the same cameras to deter speeding and anti-social drivers on some of West Sussex most dangerous roads. National statistics show that this type of road camera technology can significantly improve driver behaviour.
Average Speed Cameras work by measuring a vehicle’s average speed between two points. They capture speed and numberplate data from both front and rear plates on high-mounted entry point cameras, and the same data on an exit point camera located. These cameras can be located miles apart, but within the same speed limit zone. If the average speed exceeds the limit, a penalty fine or driving licence points will be issued.
Rural MP, Andrew Griffith, has been campaigning for the cameras for some time to tackle anti-social road users such as noisy and speeding motorcycles. He was keen to see how Surrey County Council delivered and funded the scheme and was glad to hear Sussex Police & Crime Commissioner, Katy Bourne, promise to launch her own consultation of residents as part of plans to bring the technology to local roads.
Last July, he published a “heat map” of vehicle speeding and noise in the Arundel and South Downs constituency, based on data drawn from his own comprehensive Road Safety Survey. The A272 between Midhurst and Petworth, the A285 between Duncton and Halnaker and the A283 Steyning Bypass all came near the top of the list and would be candidate installation sites.
Andrew Griffith MP said:
“For too long, anti-social and dangerous road users on our rural roads and villages have got away with it. Police enforcement through Operation Downsway is great at catching offenders but they cannot be there all the time. Roads like the A272, the A285 and A283 could all benefit from this technology.”
Katy Bourne, Sussex Police & Crime Commissioner said:
“Sussex and Surrey’s joint Roads Policing Unit mean that both forces already work closely together to enforce safer driving behaviours. I have always been keen to use proven technology to help communities be safer, so it was good to see average speed cameras at work.
“As the next step, I will shortly be launching a consultation to gauge residents’ attitudes to bringing them to parts of Sussex.”
