DRIVERS are being warned to kill their speed on Cockhill in Trowbridge following a series of incidents.

Trowbridge Town Council has installed a Speed Indicator Device in the hope it will help to prevent drivers from speeding along the road.

The council says recent incidents of speeding have endangered other road users and have damaged parked vehicles.

The device will run in tandem with the recently-formed Cockhill Community Speed Watch Group, which has been set-up by residents in response to the issues of speeding.

While the stretch of road from the direction of Bradford-on-Avon reduces from 50 miles per hour to 40mph and eventually 30mph when drivers reach Cockhill.

Town councillor and nearby resident Diana King said: “They come fairly fast down the hill but it really is in the other direction from the town that is the problem. They come from the little roundabout and then put their toe down and are soon doing 60 or 70 miles per hour.”

As a result, residents have had damaged cars where lorries have clipped off wing mirrors or bashed into them, causing damage.

The SID will be situated on Cockhill until the middle of January, only being used to provide data, as will the Speed Watch group, concerning drivers who break the limit.

Cllr King insisted the message was to do with ‘education, education, education’ concerning speeding drivers rather than getting the police involved.

She added: “We are not looking to prosecute people, we are trying to educate them so they will not speed. Prosecution is expensive and time-consuming. We simply want people to reduce their speed.”

Whilst the SID will be moved to a different part of Trowbridge after its use at Cockhill, Cllr King has already had talks about the prospect of installing them in the location for good and across the whole town.

She said: “I spoke with the leader of the town council and we agreed that we should get more of them and have them on the main roads in and out of Trowbridge.”

Cllr King also stated that, once the SID is moved away from Cockhill, the Community Speed Watch Group will nonetheless still be a going concern.

“There are 12 of us trained up to go out and do it. We are waiting for our radar devices to arrive, and then we can get going.”