Technicality in the Traffic Regulation Order relating to the A35 in Chideock:

This announcement follows the case of Regina v Dawe (see 'Notes to Editors' for details) and the Crown Court judgement that the Traffic Regulation Order (TRO) relating to the village of Chideock in West Dorset was defective due to an error in the street names in the TRO.  As a result of counsel's advice, no further action will be taken in regard to the Dawe appeal.

Since the Crown Court judgement on 26th October 2007, the Dorset Safety Camera Partnership (DSCP), including its partners Dorset Police and the Highways Agency, has been working with the appropriate Government departments to determine whether this judgement applies to other cases.

The view we have reached is that the judgement could be applicable to other cases relating to enforcement by the safety camera monitoring westbound traffic at the Chideock site on the A35, towards Exeter.

Accordingly, the DSCP is working with the Ministry of Justice and the Highways Agency to agree an appropriate process for taking matters forward.

The DSCP appreciates that some people will wish to enquire about how this judgement affects their speeding offence at Chideock and it will be able to assist with such enquiries once it has been advised on how to proceed. Updates will be posted on the DSCP website (www.dorsetsafetycameras.org.uk) when they are available.
      
Adrian Whiting, Assistant Chief Constable for Dorset Police and Chair of the Dorset Strategic Road Safety Partnership, comments: "Along with the residents of Chideock, the DSCP and Dorset Police are frustrated by this situation as it is common sense that the speed limit through the village should have been 30mph all along.

"Chideock is a small rural community and local people need the protection of a speed limit in their village.  I am reassured by the fact that, in the course of this appeal, no one has tried to suggest that the speed limit should be anything other than 30mph, nor has anyone apparently driving more quickly suggested that what they were doing was safe and sensible.  The public should be reassured by the fact that the TRO has been rewritten since the Crown Court judgement.

"The Partnership will continue to remain focused on working together to reduce the number of people who are killed or seriously injured on Dorset's roads as a consequence of both excess and inappropriate speed."

ENDS

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NOTES TO EDITORS

Background information on the issues relating to the A35 westbound in Chideock and the Crown Court case of Regina v Dawe:

1. In 1997 the Highways Agency arranged a Traffic Regulation Order (TRO) relating to the village of Chideock, West Dorset.  The order defined a length of the A35 westbound as subject to a 30mph limit.  This was necessary as that stretch of road does not have a system of street lighting.

2. The text of the order referred to the A35 junction with "Seatown Road".  This was a mistake as the road was then, and still is, correctly named "Duck Street".  This was an honest mistake as Duck Street is indeed the road to Seatown.

3. At about 23:15hrs on the 27th October 2005 Mr Dawe was detected speeding by a fixed safety camera, travelling west in the village of Chideock.  He was travelling at 41mph in a lorry, passing the houses where the safety camera is located and approaching the village Pubs.  He has never disputed this speed, nor suggested it was sensible to drive that fast in the built-up area of the village.

4. He appealed his conviction on the grounds that the 30mph speed limit signs were not of the proper form.  On the 26th October 2007 the Crown Court sitting at Dorchester found that the TRO was defective due to the road name issue, and thus the 30mph speed limit could not be enforced at that point on the A35 westbound.  Accordingly the Court did not need to assess Mr Dawe's actual grounds for appeal, and no finding on them was made.

5. Since the Crown Court judgement, the Highways Agency has rewritten the TRO.

The Dorset Safety Camera Partnership:
The Dorset Safety Camera Partnership, which was set up in August 2002, constitutes a partnership between Dorset County Council, Borough of Poole Council, Bournemouth Borough Council, Dorset Police, NHS South West, Highways Agency, Her Majesty's Courts Service and the Crown Prosecution Service.

The Partnership, through a combination of measures including education, engineering and enforcement, is working together to reduce the number of people who are killed or seriously injured on Dorset's roads, as a consequence of both excess and inappropriate speed.  It is responsible for the operation and maintenance of fixed site, mobile and red-light junction cameras throughout Dorset.