Police armed with speed devices to monitor traffic on South Shields estate

Police are stepping up a crackdown on motorists who flout speed restrictions on streets in and around Simonside, South Shields - including Fenwick Avenue and Wenlock Road.

Officers will be out and about at various times with handheld cameras in a bid to slow down drivers who drive above the speed limit.

The move has been taken in response to complaints from residents living in the area.

Pc Neil Watkin said: “Speeding motorists is an issue that does cause concern to residents.

“There has also been safety improvement work carried out on Wenlock Road and the area has been designated 20 mph which has been done for a reason.

“In response to the concerns raised by residents, we will be carrying out a number of visits to the area to ensure motorists, whether they are driving a car, van or motorbike, that they are abiding by the speed restrictions that are in force.”

It is the not the first time officers have taken to handheld speed cameras in a bid to target speeding drivers putting lives at risk.

A number of operations have also taken place in other parts of South Tyneside where concerns have been raised by residents.

Pc Neil Watkin added: “As a neighbourhood policing team, we always encourage people to talk to us and to raise any concerns they may have regarding policing-related issues,.””

Work to improve the road safety of the estate was thrown into the spotlight after a couple were knocked down on Wenlock Road in 2015.

Following the incident residents from the area launched a petition to call for the two zebra crossings near to the Metro station to be consolidated and for a 20mph speed limit to be put in place for the area.

The petition was backed by hundreds of people who put their names to the call.

A number of surveys were also carried out in the area which found during a typical day more than 4,000 vehicles used the road.

In the past five years there has been four accidents resulting in slight injury and one serious incident on the road.

Last year, the council agreed to improve the road safety and since then new traffic calming measures have been introduced, the zebra crossings were removed and replaced with a signalised crossing on the bridge. The speed limit was also reduced to 20mph.

Wenlock Road was also resurfaced.

Neighbourhood Policing teams can be contacted on 101 or via the Northumbria Police website www.northumbria.police.uk