RESIDENTS in North Yorkshire could soon help police monitor speeding motorists in the region.

Responding to a question about monitoring speeding during a live webchat on Monday, chief constable Dave Jones said North Yorkshire Police was considering adopting a scheme which would see civilian volunteers assist police on some road safety matters.

The scheme would be based on the Speedwatch initiative, which is already under way in 20mph, 30mph and some 40mph areas in Hampshire and on the Isle of Wight, and is managed by local Safer Neighbourhood Teams but run by volunteers.

According to Hampshire Police: “Volunteers will use equipment that can monitor the speed of passing traffic and record the details, later adding them to a database.

“Vehicle checks will be undertaken by the police and letters will then be sent to the registered keepers advising them of the speed and reminding them of why it is a community concern.

“It is important to know that SpeedWatch now forms part of our response to speeding issues.

“ It is the first tier in our response to dealing with this problem.

“If a problem persists, we will escalate to tier two, meaning that enforcement can be undertaken by the police Safer Neighbourhood teams.”

Mr Jones said “in recognition of the concerns expressed by the community we are exploring how we can involve them more in monitoring speeding vehicles”, but said the Hampshire scheme “may not be the final product in North Yorkshire”.

So far, the scheme costs up to £3,000 to set up, which would have to be found by the community, either through sponsorship, parish or town councils, or community grants, and go on equipment, signs, and safety equipment.

A North Yorkshire Police spokeswoman said: “Community Speed Watch is not enforcement, but education and information gathering which could then go on to inform our enforcement activity “ It’s in the early stages at the moment and nothing firm has been decided.

“If a Community Speed Watch scheme is introduced, it will be in addition to, and not in place of our current enforcement strategy which uses collision data and information from the speed management protocol to determine where enforcement takes place.