London Road speed sign installed at town's speeding hotspot where nearly two-thirds of drivers exceed limit

Drivers in Raunds will greeted with a cheery smile from a newly installed Vehicle Activated Speed (VAS) sign installed in a main Raunds – but only if they are sticking to the 30mph limit.

The sign in London Road is a result of a traffic survey that revealed nearly two-thirds of drivers exceeded the limit and 30 per cent were clocked at doing over 35mph.

Raunds Town Council has acted on concerns from residents hoping the sign will encourage speeders to slow down.

Ollie Curtis, chairman of Raunds Town Council's environment, leisure and recreation committee, said: "The council has listened carefully to the understandable concerns raised by the Raunds community around the problem of excess speeding.

"We already participate actively in the successful SpeedWatch initiative which will be back on our streets in April, and the VAS sign is another valuable tool at our disposal to positively encourage improved driver behaviour and compliance with the speed limit.

"The council is proud to play a leading role in championing schemes such as this which will help to make the road environment safer for our residents and reduce the risk of serious collisions".

Data provided by Northamptonshire Police Safer Roads Team surveyed London Road traffic in 2022 finding that during the course of one week, 62 per cent of vehicles were travelling over the 30mph limit, with one third going in excess of 35mph – the threshold for police enforcement action.

The sign will be switched to Chelveston Road, Marshalls Road and Midland Road identified speeding hotspots in five-weekly intervals in order to ‘maintain its effectiveness’.