Resident-led campaign to crack down on speeding motorists

Peter Jenkins, who heads up Watford’s Drive Safe team, said the volunteers' speed board catches up to 14 speeding motorists every hour around the Cassiobury Estate and the Cassiobury Triangle area.

He said: "We monitor traffic about eight times in a month and find that in one hour up to 14 vehicles significantly exceed the speed limit.

"The highest speed we have recorded is 49mph, but of course we know that when we are not there both numbers are greater.

"In a residential area this is frightening and unsafe for our families, especially children. We will do more of this until we get the message across."

Drive Safe speed monitoring programme aims to educate and encourage drivers to slow down to within the 30mph limit.

The Hertfordshire-wide scheme, which is promoted by David Lloyd, the police and crime commissioner, enables communities to assist the constabulary by monitoring the speed of traffic in their area.

So far there are 31 groups in Hertfordshire with two in Watford.

Teams of two to three, led by a police trained lead volunteer, monitor the speed of traffic on authorised local roads and note when cars are exceeding the limit.

Those drivers then get warning letters from the police and if they speed on more than one occasion will be subjected to additional speed monitoring and an educational visit.

Mr Jenkins, who lives on Cassiobury Drive, continued: "A significant minority of drivers break the law every day driving dangerously along Cassiobury Drive and other roads in the area.

"Not only do they break the law that requires them to drive at 30mph or less, they also endanger other people, themselves and especially children. It is high time that the message gets across that this behaviour is unacceptable."

Anyone interested in helping the Drive Safe team on the Cassiobury Estate should contact petergjenkins@hotmail.co.uk or Karen England, who leads the Park Triangle team, at karenaengland@gmail.com.