Project lauched as speeding sees a quarterly rise

The drive comes as latest statistics that reveal speeding offences across North Lanarkshire have risen by over 25 per cent in the last quarter (April 1-July 31), compared to the same period last year.

There were 254 speeding offences recorded across a range of speed limits and across both police area commands in the first quarter of this year, this was up from 201 in 2017.

In ‘Monklands and Cumbernauld’ the figure rose from 95 to 118 and in ‘Motherwell, Wishaw and Bellshill’ from 106 to 136.

The long-term initiative addresses speeding concerns cited by residents at Local Area Partnership meetings who have called for action to be taken to make their communities safer.

Hand-held speed detection devices have been funded through the Local Development Programme partnership projects’ budget.

This will see officers from Police Scotland’s Local Problem-Solving teams working together with North Lanarkshire Council Community Safety Sub Groups and local communities to drive down the number of speeding motorists.

The multi-agency drive will see local days of action to target identified speeding hot spots, road safety checks and awareness-raising through education talks and ‘roadside safety chats’.

Superintendent Louise Skelton, chairwoman of the Lanarkshire Road Safety Governance Group, said: “Thankfully we have not seen a significant increase in the number of injuries from road accidents in this division, but it is widely recognised that speed is a contributory factor in road traffic crashes.

“This project will see Police Scotland working collaboratively with North Lanarkshire Council and local communities to make a difference to road safety through a twin-pronged approach by enforcing the law in relation to speed and educating motorists.

“It’s vital that motorists understand that the consequences of speeding - it can cost lives - and we will work together to improve road safety in North Lanarkshire.”