Speed campaign clocks one in five over the limit at entrance to Middleton-in-Teesdale

MORE than one in five drivers was clocked speeding as they entered Middleton-in-Teesdale along the B6282 from Eggleston in the last month.
Responding to complaints from the village’s parish councillors, police and volunteers have carried out six speedwatch operations at the entrance to the village in recent weeks.
The March Police and Communities Together (Pact) meeting was told in total, the speed of 445 vehicles was checked.
Of those, 98 (22 per cent) were clocked at 35mph or quicker.
PCSO Darren Miles told the meeting that as a result of the high number of vehicles caught over the limit, the issue would continue as a priority for another month.
The meeting was told one of the problems was the fact that the route is downhill and goes straight from 60mph to 30mph.
However, one of the volunteers involved in speedwatch said: “If they can brake when they get past us, they can brake before they reach us.”
The meeting was also told a number of vehicles were going faster than 45mph as they passed the speedwatch checker.
The issue of speeding was most recently raised by the parish council during a meeting with south Durham neighbourhood operations manager, Chief Inspector Stephen Ball.
He promised to look into complaints, which also included criticism of the speed commercial vehicles were going and the danger posed by larger vehicles travelling quickly on narrow stretches of the road between Eggleston and Middleton.
One suggestion put forward at the Pact meeting was slowing vehicles at intervals – from 60mph to 40mph to 30mph as happens at other villages, such as Gainford.
Cllr Adam Hearn, chairman of Middleton-in-Teesdale and Newbiggin Parish Council, said the group would look forward to seeing the results of ongoing speedwatch operations.
“As we know from previous government campaigns, driving too fast can be the difference between injuring someone and killing someone. Residents in Middleton-in-Teesdale would like people to observe the speed limit.”
He added: “We look forward to the police feeding the information back to us and then discussing the results with police and the county council.”
He said introducing a 40mph zone between the national speed limit and the entrance to the village could be one answer.
“We would need to take expert advice.”