About the scheme
Community Speed Watch enables volunteers to work within their community to raise awareness of the dangers of speeding and to help control the problem locally.
The scheme incorporates poster campaigns and a pledge system linked to direct action using speed detection equipment, all under the supervision of the county council. The use of the radar devices will not lead to prosecution – drivers will get a letter from the police instead – but will help to underline the community’s commitment to reducing speed.
The 2025 programme is full, but we are taking expressions of interest for 2026. CSW works largely via the good work of the volunteers, but it does require sufficient input from Leicestershire County Council as the Highway Authority, and also the Police in terms of back office support with writing to the registered keepers of the vehicles detected speeding.
To ensure we maximise our resources and that of our Partners, your request to run a scheme in your community will be measured against our criteria – this will determine what level of support we can offer.
Costs
There are no costs to you for the main scheme. The only thing you will be asked to provide is somewhere local for the volunteers to be trained.
There is an optional Mobile Vehicle Activated Sign (MVAS) scheme which does have costs involved.
The equipment and training provided
We will provide:
- speed measuring equipment (generally, either handheld radar or handheld laser speed detection equipment)
- training (2 hour training mandatory session which all volunteers must attend)
- PPE – Hi visibility jackets
- clipboard and paperwork
- support from the County Coordinator
The hand held radar is the easiest to train and use (a point and click device).
The handheld radar or handheld laser equipment is calibrated annually and checked by the volunteers each time they set up.
Scheme success and data
The volunteers will see the positive effect they have for themselves, but it is not a long term solution in itself.
The results obtained by the volunteer surveys are fed back to the group/parish by the police and the volunteers will have access to them.
Other ways the county council monitors traffic
The county council will carry out covert monitoring of the agreed CSW volunteer locations. Speed surveys will be carried our both before the live volunteer scheme and then repeated after the live scheme has concluded. On completion, the data will be shared with the parish council.
Volunteers expectations
Volunteers must always go out in a group of between 2 to 4. We do not want anybody going out on their own to conduct checks.
It is unusual to have any major problems with the drivers passing through the checks and there are procedures to follow should this happen which will be delivered as part of your pre-scheme training.
Live schemes will run for a period of 2 weeks (starting on a Saturday and ending on a Friday). The required equipment will be delivered to you at the training session.
Please note: the kit cannot be used at any other time other than the agreed 2 week session.
Police support and vehicle details
It is your Scheme Co-ordinator's responsibility to make sure that your survey data is entered onto the Excel spreadsheet (provided to you) and entered/sent to the police at the end of each day.
On receipt they'll check the data provided on their National Computer to make sure, as far as possible, that the correct vehicle details have been obtained. They will then send a letter that explains what has happened and the potential consequences of the driver’s actions (see example letter below). If the offender has already been contacted, a second letter can also be sent.
The only organisation that knows who the drivers are, is the police. Details are not passed back to the county council or the volunteers.
The police also assist by supporting the volunteers should they have any problems from abusive motorists. Thankfully, police involvement for these occasions is remarkably low – their interventions can be counted on one hand.
Local coordinator
Their main role is to co-ordinate a group of 12 volunteers and produce a rota for the volunteers so that they know where they are to set up and when, a selection of templates will be offered to help with this. They will need to be proficient at using Excel, be able to download, edit and upload data to email and send their collected data to the police on a daily basis.
Complaints procedure
Any concerns about the scheme can be directed to Complaints and comments
If you're interested have a look at our next steps – or if you have any further questions, please contact the scheme co-ordinator.
