A COMMUNITY speedwatch team on Dartmoor is having a positive effect on the way people drive, according to new figures.

Animal deaths on the roads monitored by Dartmoor Speedwatch so far this year have decreased from the same recorded period last year, but outside the speedwatch area, on unmonitored roads, deaths have increased by nearly 30.

The Dartmoor Speedwatch patch covers the three roads leading from Princetown — the Princetown to Dousland road, the Princetown to Tavistock road up to the cattle grid and a section out towards Postbridge. Animal deaths on the roads in the speedwatch patch have reduced from 39 in 2017 to 31 this year with the number of injured rising from three to six.

Outside the patch, on surrounding moorland, the number of animal deaths has risen from 63 killed in 2017 to 90 this year, with the number of injured rising from 13 to 16.

The results were recorded from January 1 to September 23 each year.

Dartmoor Speedwatch coordinator Gregg Manning said the numbers demonstrated that speedwatch was having an effect on the way people drove within its patch and is calling for a 40mph speed limit to be introduced on all unfenced roads across Dartmoor.

Mr Manning said: ‘The number of deaths in our patch are down but injuries are up. The accidents have still happened but at a lower speed so the animal has survived. The figures for outside our patch speak for themselves — an extra 27 deaths with still three months of the year to run.

‘This I feel demonstrates that the poor driving behaviour is slowly getting worse in those areas where there is no proper means of control.

‘Our sites of operation are not random but chosen for us and risk assessed by the police. I set up speedwatch a little over two years ago and after 150 sessions I believe it is going well and has been very successful.

‘There are parts of the moor which are unfenced with animals roaming freely which, for some reason, have the national speed limit of 60mph. As speedwatch is not allowed to operate on roads above 40mph and the police do not have the resources to patrol on a regular basis these roads have become lawless with regards to speed. It is not the fault of the police and even if someone is obeying the law, 60mph is still far too fast with animals grazing freely.

‘Looking at this data collected over an 18 month period, there seems to be no option except to introduce a 40mph speed limit on all unfenced roads across Dartmoor.’

Mr Manning said as coordinator of Dartmoor Speedwatch and chair of Dartmoor Forest Parish Council he invited people in authority with the power to make changes to contact him.

‘I would be happy to hear them defend the reasoning behind the 60mph and of course to produce data to support their case in the same way I have done,’ he said.

He added: ‘To be fair, moving vehicles and animals with no road sense is never going to be a good mix and accidents will always happen. But poor driving or excessive speed can never be an accident as it is the driver who makes this choice — that is the person we want to stop.’