Average speed cameras suggested for A606 at Whitwell
Average speed cameras could be installed on a busy stretch of road if a couple’s campaign is successful.
Vehicles breaking the 30mph limit along the A606 between Stamford[1] and Oakham[2] is a crime Whitwell resident Beryl Jones wants stopped.
She and her husband Philip have lived on Main Road since 2021 and say they don’t mind the traffic - but take issue with speeding.
Vehicles in this video were not speeding
“When drivers actually travel at 30mph you can have a conversation with someone next to you on the pavement,” said Beryl.
“There is a transformation in people’s driving when the police have the speed van in the village. But when the police are not here and someone chooses to drive at the speed limit we often hear horns being honked behind them.”
Beryl feels part of the problem stems from there being a wide entrance to Whitwell when approaching from Oakham, created by a right-turn feeder lane into Bull Brig Lane to access Rutland Water Whitwell Car Park. The road also dips downhill into the village.
Vehicles in this video were not speeding
She wants two average speed cameras - one at either end of Whitwell - which she believes will reduce noise and danger on the road.
Other solutions have been suggested by Rutland County Council - including painting a red line along the middle of the A606 through Whitwell, and having signs that flash up a vehicle’s speed.
But Beryl feels only two methods would work.
One is putting chicanes on the road to make vehicles slow as the priority of oncoming traffic changes. But she has been told the A606 must be accessible to abnormally wide or long vehicles, therefore chicanes could not be used.
The other method Beryl suggests is average speed cameras.
Philip says the need for cameras is supported by data from the mobile speed camera van.
He said: “It paid Whitwell six visits in the first three months of 2023 and recorded 529 minutes of camera time and 96 speeding offences - about one every five minutes.
“This year it has carried out three visits and recorded 296 minutes of camera time and 46 speeding offences.”
Beryl said Community Speedwatch had been attempted in Whitwell, with some of its 69 residents borrowing ‘speed guns’ to record those breaking the limit so that they would be sent letters.
But she feels they should not have to “stand there and receive abuse” from drivers.
Rutland County Council has been asked for the cost of installing and maintaining two average speed cameras and to comment on the feasibility of Beryl’s proposal. It has not yet responded.
A document published by Bedford Borough Council says that in summer 2021 the cost of installing two average speed cameras was about £85,000, with a maintenance cost of about £5,000 a year.
Would you like average speed cameras installing in Whitwell and other locations? Where would you put them? Email [email protected]