Templecombe has a Vehicle speed problem, mainly on the A357 but possibly on other roads such as Bowden Road and Yarn Barton/Stations Road!
As a Parish Council we cannot:-
- Install Speed Cameras in the village – this is a police matter and their policy is to install them at ‘black spots’ where a number of serious accidents and injuries occur over a significant period of time.
- Install ‘Average Speed Cameras’ – we are not authorised to do this and in addition they are only of use on long stretches of road where traffic flow is constant – for example on Motorways and Trunk roads.
- Install more Traffic Calming to prevent speeding
As a Parish Council we can:-
- Facilitate and participate in a ‘Speed Watch’ Group. The village had such a Volunteer group for approximately 2 years and despite having the highest number of speeding vehicles recorded in the local area the follow up from the Police was poorer than expected. In addition the Volunteers were verbally abused by vehicle drivers and on a few occasions physically threatened. as a result the group disbanded.
- Ask for more Traffic Calming to restrict speeding eg bumps in the road, build outs etc
- Purchase and install a Speed Indicator device as Somerset Highways would not fund the existing regime of placing a device at the entry and exit of villages.
In August 2021 the Parish Council decided to investigate how this could be done .We were aware that we had to obtain the permission of Somerset Highways to install one agree to their process and sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU)
A meeting was arranged with Gary Warren, then responsible for the ‘Traffic Management group, to walk through the Village to help us identify places we could use the SID. In addition he gave us his view of a sensible approach to the project. The result was basically a way forward and is reported in a document available by clicking here
The MOU agreement needed to be agreed with the Transport Data group and that was a document which covered exactly where the SID could be placed, the type of SID which could be purchased, the training of people to install and move it, and how long the device could be used in a position before being relocated to another position.
The positions agreed can be seen in the document available by clicking here. The only position which has changed resulted from the removal of an agreed post when the Build Out was removed in late November – that position has swapped onto the pole opposite the cottages.
A device was selected after assessing a number of suppliers and it was finally fitted on December 11th 2022. The device and all of the necessary training and implementation costs was agreed and included in the 2022-23 Parish Council Budget at a cost of £4000-4500. The Parish Council successfully applied for a grant of £2250 from Avon and Somerset Police Community Trust fund towards the costs – meaning the cost to the Parish will be in the order of £2300.
Initial Results so far:-
In the first 36 hours of operation the device recorded about 1800 vehicles travelling up the hill from the crossing under the railway bridge towards Yenston
Of those vehicles less than 50% travelled within the 20mph with a further 37% travelling between 20 and 25mph.
The remaining vehicles travelled at speeds between 26 and 45 mph.
It is too early to draw conclusions but drivers appear to react and slow down when they see the sign flash – particularly if the car in front gets a ‘red sad Smiley’
We will report the results regularly and try to build up a picture of where the ‘speeding hot spots’ on the A357 within the village are. As the Knights Meadow development gets completed and the new ‘right turn’ onto the development starts to be used it may be necessary to locate a position on the downward slope of Slades Hill.