Police use new speed guns to detect speeding drivers in Rutland
First, there were speed vans... now speed guns. Rutland Police have been given new high-tech speed guns in an effort to tackle speeding motorists. The speed guns were unveiled for Road Safety Awareness Week (November 19-25).
Oakham police officer, Pete Icke explained: "If average speeds were reduced by just 1mph, the accident rate on Rutland's roads would fall by approximately five per cent.
"These new high-tech speed guns that we've been trialling can lock onto a speeding vehicle at much greater distances, allowing the officer to make a judgment on whether to pull the driver over."
Unipar SL700 hand-held laser speed meters cost about GBP2,500 each, but they are designed to operate with just one button.
"If you look through the viewfinder, you'll see the red laser dot," PC Icke said. "You point the dot at the vehicle and press the red button. Any vehicle within 10, and 900m will produce an accurate speed readout in the display on the side of the gun.
"It is then up to the discretion of the officer in charge whether the speed indicated warrants pulling that driver over to the side of the road." Currently in Leicestershire and Rutland, the tolerance for speeding is 10 per cent plus 2mph. So, for a 50mph zone the tolerance would be 57mph (50mph + 5mph + 2mph).
However, each officer has discretion.
"Some of our officers will pull over a driver if they are as little as one or two miles per hour over the limit, and have a word with them," PC Icke said.
"I tend to be a bit more lenient, and will tolerate 35mph in a 30-zone for example."
Jonathan Clarkson from Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland Road Safety Partnership said: "The Road Safety Unit at Leicestershire and Rutland Police is constantly dealing with very high volumes of speeding offences. However, we are committed to reacting to local community concerns and keeping our roads safe for everyone. "Leicestershire and Rutland Police are regularly attending accidents where someone is killed or seriously injured, excessive speed is a major factor in most of these cases."
The new speed guns have been issued just days after Rutland County Council announced that police in Rutland sent more than 750 letters to motorists as part of a Community Speed Watch scheme. Volunteers were given training and equipment to monitor traffic and record details of speeding vehicles in South Luffenham, Caldecott, Edith Weston, Uppingham and Ashwell. PC Icke said: "We're not there to trap drivers.
I would be quite happy if I spent my entire shift and didn't catch a single speeding motorist.
Then I would know our message about speeding is getting across."