Centenier Danny Scaife says his force has been carrying out an increased number of patrols within the parish in response to complaints from residents. He added that the action had also been stepped up even further as part of Operation Canvas – a campaign launched at the beginning of the pandemic to combat antisocial driving.
Last weekend, St Helier honorary officers caught a driver allegedly travelling at 70mph on Victoria Avenue as well as two motorists who were allegedly travelling at 48mph and 49mph in the Tunnel – a 30mph zone. Elsewhere in the Island, it is understood that another driver is due to appear before the Youth Court accused of driving through St Peter’s Valley at 68mph earlier this month.
Mr Scaife said his officers were due to resume parish hall inquiries next week and had a backlog of cases ‘far into triple figures’ which would take the next three months to clear.
‘We have had officers out around two to three times a week and it has shown that in certain areas there are definitely some problems. It has highlighted an issue with a lot of people not knowing that it is 20mph within the ring road, so we have been doing some education there as well as enforcement,’ he said.
‘While it is not often that we catch people driving at 30 to 40mph over the speed limit we do stop a lot of people going about ten to 15 miles per hour over the limit, so we have got to get the message out there to people to slow down.’
Mr Scaife added that although there had been a higher number of people caught speeding in recent months, this was probably due to his officers carrying out increased levels of patrols.
‘There have been 130 speeders caught by us in the last month who will be appearing at the parish hall and then there are other cases for different offences, as well as cases from the States police.
‘For the next three months, working five days a week and Saturday mornings, we will be all booked up for parish hall inquiries.’
Meanwhile, an Old St John’s Road resident has appealed for traffic calming measures and access restrictions to be introduced on the route after he saw his three-year-old cat, Kimmi, being run over by a car that then allegedly failed to stop.
Oliver Lindop said he had already been in discussions with the parish about the problem when tragedy struck.
‘I think both I and my neighbours have noticed the road has become a lot busier. It seems to be used as a cut-through by commercial vehicles going to and from the trading estate on Queen’s Road. There are a lot of vans coming through there to carry out their deliveries in town when they should be using the two-way New St John’s Road,’ he said.
‘There are also boy racers and, combined with the narrow proportions of the road, it means that it is not possible to take cover if you need to. You are really taking your life in your hands. It is also being used a route to school.’
He added: ‘One of my neighbours described it as an accident waiting to happen, and that was proven with my cat on Thursday night. It was around 6.30pm and I saw a dark-coloured older-model estate car hit him.
‘The driver just left and my cat died in my arms. As bad as it already was it was just compounded by the fact that they did not stop, they did not care, as well as the impact it has had. There is no way they did not know what they had done.’
It is understood that teams at St Helier officials are now looking at the viability of installing speed bumps and implementing ‘access only’ restrictions on the road.
