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Neighborhood and community speed watch
Your Neighborhood and community speed watch Co-Ordinator is Anthony Rogers.
Speeding. From data gathered from various sources over a period of time we have established that 85% of all traffic passing through the village exceeds the 30MPH speed limit. The highest speed recorded to date is 60MPH! This highlights the urgent need for effective traffic calming measures to improve safety for residents, pedestrians, and all road users.
Wicken to get is own vehicle activated speed (VAS) sign. To help combat excessive speed through the village the Parish committee have invested in a new vehicle activated speed sign to remind drivers to slow down and improve road safety for residents.
The sign is movable and will be deployed at two locations in the village where speeding concerns have been reported. There will be two poles to hold the sign, one down by the Meads and the other opposite the entrance to Wicken House. These measures are intended to encourage drivers to slow down and improve safety for all road users. Whilst the sign will not record vehicle registration numbers it will record speed and the number of vehicles passing through the village. It is hoped that the data collected will support future traffic calming measures and help improve road safety for residents and visitors alike.
Community Speed Watch. Volunteers needed. Contact Anthony if you wish to take part. Training is online and takes about 1 hour.
Speeding through the village is a major issue and the community speed watch team carry out as many sessions as possible throughout the year.
vehicles caught speeding are reported to the police for further action.
In addition to the community's activities the police also carry out random checks and drivers exceeding the speed limit are fined.
We also have traffic data collected from surveys conducted by Essex highway's showing the number of vehicles exceeding the speed limit.
Traffic speed data
Speed data collated from Essex Highways
Data collected by Essex Highways over a 7 day period in the stated month and year.
Month / year | Total vehicles | Highest speed | Number over 30 MPH | Number over highest speed |
November 2017 | 23,208 | 39 MPH | 19,727 | 3,271 |
April 2019 | 21,806 | 41 MPH | 18,535 | 3,271 |
April 2021 | 20,415 | 38 MPH | 17,352 | 3,062 |
The reduction in traffic volumes in 2019 and 2021 could be down to reduced traffic over the Easter / half term holiday period.
There is a noticeable reduction in traffic volumes at the weekends. Given the additional development in both Newport and Clavering it is likely that the “total” number of vehicles has increased, which could lead to an increase in all categories.
Speed data captured by Essex Police
Date | Total surveyed | Average speed MPH | Number over 30 MPH | Number over 36 MPH | Highest speed | Fines issued |
20-12-24 | 71 | 31 | 28 | 11 | 48 MPH | 0 |
09-04-25 | 31 | 30 | 14 | 2 | 40 MPH | 0 |
13-02-25 | 100 | 30 | 41 | 2 | 39 MPH | 1 |
22-02-25 | 100 | 30 | 39 | 5 | 47 MPH | 5 |
25-07-25 | 71 | 29 | 26 | 4 | 47 MPH | 4 |
28-11-25 | 74 | 30 | 36 | 7 | 60 MPH | 7 |
Fly Tipping
Whilst it is an offence to tip rubbish, the Police are not the main prosecuting body. If the waste constitutes a lorry-load or more, or contains hazardous waste of any kind, you should contact the Environment Agency or Crimestoppers. The Environment Agency can be contacted via a National Incident Control Centre on 0800 807060. Crimestoppers can be contacted on 0800 555111 - reports can be made anonymously to Crimestoppers. Anything that constitutes a van-load or less, and does not contain hazardous material should be reported to the relevant local authority.
Uttlesford: Call 01799 510510 or report online at uttlesford.gov.uk
If you see any scale of fly tipping ‘in progress’ this can be reported to Essex Police, who will treat the incident as criminal activity and prioritise according to standard procedures
Food for thought:
If the Police don’t know about it, they can’t do anything about it. If the crimes aren’t reported, how can requests for additional resources be justified?
Crimes in progress should be reported to the Police by phoning 999 and crimes that have already happened should be reported by phoning 101 or by reporting on-line at https://www.essex.police.uk/do-it-online/report-non-emergency-crime/
Paul Harris, Essex Watch Liaison Officer for Brentwood, Epping Forest, Harlow and Uttlesford. Email: paul.harris@essex.pnn.police.uk Tel: 07738 736687 (9-5 weekdays)