A NEWTON Abbot councillor is seeking volunteers to join the town’s Speedwatch initiative.

Cllr Mike Joyce has been a driving force behind Newton Abbot’s Community Speedwatch scheme for many years.

And now Cllr Joyce is urging for more volunteers to come forward and join the small but dedicated Speedwatch team.

Cllr Joyce said: ‘We can always do with more operatives to join our already great crew who, through 12 months of the year, are out as many times as possible.

‘We are volunteers who have been trained to use the equipment and to input the data but there is room for more, to meet the ever-increasing demand for speed watch to be in several locations.

‘To become an operative there is an online form to complete and a short, fairly easy training session.

‘You can always join us on one of sessions to meet and greet us and see how it all works.

‘If you’re interested in joining the operatives or fancy joining us on a session, then please get in touch by email: [email protected] or by phoning 07712 668969’.

Community Speedwatch is a national initiative where, in partnership with the police, members of communities use detection devices to monitor local vehicle speeds.

The volunteers report drivers exceeding the speed limit to the police with the aim of educating drivers to slow down.

If the data proves a driver is ignoring repeated warnings police can prosecute them.

The aim is to: reduce death and injury on the roads; improve the quality of life for local communities; reduce the speed of vehicles to the speed limit and increase public awareness of inappropriate speed.

Community Speedwatch does not result in prosecution itself.

However, if a persistent speeding driver is identified through the scheme, police can use this evidence to take action against them if required.