SpeedWatch 2025

/in /by

During October, a group of sixteen village volunteers gave up some of their time to participate in Community Speed Watch. This involved using speed detection equipment supplied by the Police to detect and record vehicles on our village roads that were driving in excess of the enforced limit.

Quite shockingly, the highest recorded speed in Boughton was 50 mph on Moulton Lane, on a Sunday afternoon, which demonstrates a clear and flagrant disregard for the safety of other road users and pedestrians in our village. A collision at that speed would likely have fatal consequences. In total, 100 vehicles were reported by our volunteers to Northamptonshire Police over less than 14 hours of speed recording, and so thanks to everyone involved this year.

Volunteers experienced the ‘other side of the lens’, so to speak, and could easily see how even a slight increase in speed over the posted limit rapidly increases the concern for road safety in our small village.

Thanks to the collective efforts of all the Community Speed Watch teams in the region, collectively 2,105 warning letters were issued to drivers found exceeding the enforcement thresholds, a significant contribution to improving road safety in our communities.

Following on from the success of a pilot in Staverton, in 2026, Northamptonshire Police are planning to roll out the following key updates:

  • New equipment: introducing a smaller, lighter RADAR gun that’s easier to handle and no longer requires a tripod.
  • Group ownership: Each group will have the opportunity to purchase its own kit, enabling groups to operate and submit results independently between March and October. This would then become a regular and random Speed Watch operation spread over this period of time each year instead of being compressed into one month.

Everyone, please drive at a safe speed within the now reduced 20 mph speed limit in our village, and continue to drive safely on our roads.

Many thanks,

Paul Mabbutt

Police Liaison Representative