By Jill Stocks
A new group in Horsforth is aiming to highlight and monitor speeding in the town and create a safer community.
The Horsforth Speed Awareness Group has been set up by local resident Chris Calvert, a former town councillor, following discussions with residents during the May election campaign.
Chris said: “I came up with the idea of Horsforth Speed Awareness Group from the elections in May. A lot of the things that were being addressed to me on the door was about speeding. People saying they weren’t happy about people using roads as a rat run and speeding through and they want to see more done about that.
“I know that the town councillors have been doing some great work on this. On Stanhope Drive they’ve been out with the SID (Speed Indicator Device) so I thought it would be great if we had a specific group in Horsforth that was dedicated to this. So I came up with the idea of Horsforth Speed Awareness.”
It is hoped that volunteers who sign up and complete the appropriate training could then join a team of people who deploy the mobile SID at locations across Horsforth.
Speed Indicator Devices display the drivers speed and, should they be driving over the speed limit, then remind them to slow down. Data can also be collected from the SIDs which can be used to inform local police and other agencies of any issues in an area which need to be addressed.
Chris said: “We are linked to Community Speedwatch, which you have to be signed up to in order to go out and actually monitor speeds, so I’m looking for volunteers from the community who are interested who would like to get involved, who are willing to sign up. I’ve already had one person sign up to do it which is really great because it’s certainly a very new thing that I’m trying to get off the ground.
“I want this to become a community thing. I want all of us involved. I want councillors involved, I want residents involved, so it’s more of a community effort. All of us pulling together, because speeding affects us all.”
Sadly the statistics show how badly action is needed on speeding to try to combat the number of road fatalities and injuries that happen daily on our roads, locally and nationally.
Chris said: “There are some stats I’ve been looking at actually because I know that West Yorkshire Combined Authority want to see a Vision Zero (an initiative to reduce road fatalities) by 2040 and some of the stats that I’ve been reading on their website are quite startling.
“1,318 were killed or seriously injured in 2024 on local roads. Five people (on average) are killed on UK roads every day. I know that we have had in the past few years road fatalities in Horsforth and the surrounding areas so it’s definitely something I think that as a community we need to be pulling together to prevent.”
The group are also asking local residents to have their say on local speeding issues and road safety.
A survey is open until 30 September for members of the community to complete to help the group establish what the most important issues and priorities are for them.
Chris was keen to emphasise that the group is very much apolitical and for the benefit of the whole community with all local individuals and community organisations welcome to get involved.
He added: “I want anyone involved who wants to be involved. This is more important than politics.
“I’ve seen some interest from town councillors which is really good and great that they’re interested and I know that they’ve already been doing some things on this where they’ve been out on Stanhope Drive but there are other areas that need to be looked at. Broadway for example, because it’s terrible for speeding, and Brownberrie Lane and I’ve heard there are other areas as well such as Low Lane. On an evening on Low Lane, Friday evenings particularly, people seem to do whatever they want on that road.
“So some of the councillors have shown an interest and I’d really like them to continue to show an interest and get involved. It’d be great to have one of the city councillors involved as well to push this from within the City Council as well.”
Stanhope Drive concerns
Last week Horsforth Town Council’s Planning, Licensing and Traffic Committee wrote to Horsforth’s city councillors to request support for a fixed SID on Stanhope Drive. The committee had been looking at ways to improve local road safety and had also been out on a number of occasions with the mobile SID at a number of locations in Horsforth.
Cllr Aiden Goulden is Chair of the committee. He told WLD: “The Town Council have conducted speed monitoring on Stanhope Drive previously following concerns raised by residents. This was carried out using the mobile SID and we identified several instances of speeding.
“We believe a fixed Speed Indicator device would remind drivers to moderate their speed and hopefully improve road safety in the area.
“Additionally the data collected from the SID can and has been used to inform police speed enforcement campaigns and we would hope any data that we gathered could be used for the same purpose.”
Chris hopes that the group will help to spread the message about road safety across the community and that many people will want to get involved. He said: “We’ve seen fatalities in Horsforth and that’s something we need to avoid, but we need to build more awareness about it as well. I don’t want this to just be sitting at the side of the road and taking people’s speeds. I want it to become more of an awareness group to spread the message in the town.
“I’m putting it out there to the community. I’ve created it for them so I want them involved.”
Local residents who are interested can get involved with Horsforth Speed Awareness Group and play an active role in preventing speeding in Horsforth by getting in touch and by signing up to Community Speedwatch.
Chris added: “In order for us to then go out with the mobile SIDS we have to have training from West Yorkshire Police. So I am in touch also with our local policing team about this. I’ll be meeting with them soon to discuss this further. Anyone who wants to get involved feel free to come along and join us and it’ll be great to run this as a community effort.
“If anyone is willing to get involved go to schools to speak as well that would really help.”
You can find the survey here and the Horsforth Speed Awareness group facebook page, where you will also find details of how you can get involved and Community Speedwatch, here. Or you can email the group at horsforthspeedawarenessgroup@gmail.com.
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