I came up with a clever idea to stop speeding drivers – can you spot what I’ve done?
A FURIOUS resident has come up with a genius idea to stop motorists speeding through his village.
Neil Mallinson took matters into his own hands after nothing was done about growing safety concerning on Town Street in Sutton cum Lound, near Retford.
In a desperate bid to reduce traffic speed, Neil painted his birdbox to resemble a speed camera to scare drivers.
The Speed Watch volunteer said: “I really wanted to raise the volume about the subject – that’s what propelled me to do something like this [painting his birdbox].
“We’ve received a load of Facebook comments about it and a lot of people have spoken about it.
“There is an attention and we want to see something done about it.”
The 50-year-old added he wanted “more extreme measures” in the village, such as a real average speed camera at each end of the village.
“Until you can change drivers’ habits by some form of penalty, you’re never going to change what they’re doing,” he continued.
“There needs to be some form of punitive action taken and we are also talking about new calming measures, such as chicanes. But until then, I don’t think anything will ever change.”
The cable factory owner expressed his grievances about the speeding issue and claimed he fears for the lives of his three young children.
And Neil is not the only concerned resident.
One mother-of-two, who did not wish to be named, said she walks her children to school each day full of anxiety.
“We cross the road to take our kids to school every day, and there is that fear that if someone came speeding around the corner, it could be really serious,” she said.
She added: “And our garden backs right onto the road, so the noise is also a real issue.
“The motorbikes are the worst.”
From her kitchen window, resident Shirley Stokes can see the radar speed sign on Town Street and she said it regularly clocks drivers going over 30mph.
She said: “Some of them go past and it doesn’t even show the speed they’re driving, it just tells them to slow down. So I think they’re going well over 35mph at that point.
“I have no idea why they do it, but it is going to lead to an accident.”
Neil also said that he couldn’t see why people sped through the village, considering that it is not a “cut-through” to any other major villages or towns.
He said: “It’s not like people would be commuting to any other villages, so maybe it’s people living locally who just don’t respect that we have a 30mph limit in the village.”
According to reports in the Daily Mail, it is not against the law to set up a fake speed camera – Essex Police has previously stated that while it is not illegal, it would not be something they encourage people to do.