Residents of Crakehall have called for measures to tackle what they describe as a ‘huge speeding issue’ in the village.
Crakehall with Langthorne Parish Council has highlighted official data which shows more than a third of all drivers passing through the village break the 30mph limit.
The council says the village has the highest number of speeding motorists of all Hambleton villages, with councillors adding that they have attempted to raise concerns with the police on numerous occasions, but have been ignored — a claim rejected by North Yorkshire Police.
The parish council said in a statement issued to Hambleton Today: “We believe we have demonstrated, using the speed survey data published by the police, that Crakehall has a huge speeding issue, as evidenced by the number of speeding offences recorded within the village, since speed data recording commenced in 2016.
“We also believe that Crakehall has the highest offence rate recorded of any village within the Hambleton area and the police are choosing to ignore this.
“The parish council has tried to engage with the police on numerous occasions to no avail.
“We cannot see how the police can continue to deny that there is a problem and refuse to consider speed calming measures such as a 40mph buffer zone at both entrances to the village.”
The council says that official data shows there were 2,510 speeding offences recorded in Crakehall between May 2016 and March 2019, with figures from 2018 revealing that the police therefore recorded more than twice the number of speeding offences on the A684 in Crakehall than the entire 47 miles of the A684 in North Yorkshire outside of the village.
The parish council has spoken out after police removed a fake speed camera which had been installed on a lamp post in the village recently in an apparent bid to slow speeding drivers.
In response, North Yorkshire Police said it was aware of speeding concerns within the village and continued to put resources into making motorists slow down.
A North Yorkshire Police spokesperson said: “So far in 2019 alone, our mobile safety cameras have been at two sites in Crakehall a total of ten times. This includes twice in the last week.
“We also had a significant presence there in 2018, when our mobile safety cameras caught around 600 motorists exceeding the speed limit, and we have similar results from previous years.
“In addition, we have helped residents set up a Community Speed Watch scheme, which enables volunteers to have a visual presence to reduce speeds in their community. This is proven to be a very effective way to slow traffic, and can be used along side our other police enforcement activities.
“It’s our understanding that this Speed Watch scheme has yet to deploy, and we’d encourage residents in any village with speeding concerns to consider this option.
“We’ll continue to work with this community and others across the 6,000 miles of roads we police in North Yorkshire.
“We’re constantly assessing and monitoring the measures that are already in place in Crakehall and also considering a third mobile safety camera site in the village, which we hope will further reduce excessive speeds.”
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