'Super wardens' have their sights on speeders
A NEW band of "super traffic wardens" has hit the streets with powers to impound cars and target speeding drivers.
The hit squad has been issued with hand-held speed guns and will patrol 20mph zones outside city schools.
The 15-strong force is set to double in size in the coming weeks.
They are also able to issue on-the-spot fines for double parking and immediately impound carelessly parked vehicles.
And while the wardens will not issue speeding tickets, drivers who are caught will be sent warning letters and, in serious cases, reported to the procurator fiscal.
Previously, only the police were able to carry out speed checks or impound double-parked vehicles.
The new group of Traffic Support Wardens, hand-picked from the existing team of wardens, have been given extended training to lessen the burden on traffic officers. Their work will focus on 20mph zones, introduced as advisory limits in areas such as schools in a bid to reduce the number of injuries to children.
Inspector David Legge, of Lothian and Borders Police traffic warden section, said: "The new traffic wardens will be going around these areas with hand-held radars. What we want to do is keep our children safe when they are in a school area.
"A lot of parents want to deliver their children to school in a car, but that means children are more at risk on the roads.
"If a child is hit at 20mph, they have a good chance of surviving the impact and as the speed goes up, that chance decreases."
In June, it emerged the number of children killed on roads in the Lothian and Borders area had dropped by almost 50 per cent, with 18 deaths or serious injuries last year.
Council leader Donald Anderson welcomed the new wardens.
He said: "The wardens can help us build on the success we have achieved in recent years where we have managed to reduce the number of child fatalities in Edinburgh to zero."
The 20mph limits, which are set to be introduced outside of every primary school in Edinburgh by April next year, are not compulsory and drivers breaking the limit cannot be fined or receive licence points.
And even motorists driving above the minimum national speed limit of 30mph will not be booked by the wardens - only police officers can issue fixed penalty fines.
"Anyone breaking the legal speed limit will receive a letter from the Traffic Support Wardens, the same as if they were breaking the advisory 20mph limit," he said.
"In extreme cases, the Traffic Support Wardens could pass the information on to the procurator fiscal and drivers could be prosecuted, but they will not receive fixed penalty fines."
The powers to deal with double parking come ahead of strict new council rules which will see vehicles parked further than a foot from the kerb receive tickets.
It comes after fire chiefs complained selfish drivers were putting lives at risk by double parking and blocking access to emergency vehicles.
The new wardens will hand out fixed penalty fines of £30 to those breaking the law. If the warden is not able to track down the driver to have the car removed, they can impound the vehicle, costing an extra £105 to recover it.
The team will also support police in road-safety initiatives and assist speed camera operators.
Traffic branch commander Superintendent Colin McNeill said: "This is a natural progression and development of our police traffic warden staff. We can hopefully achieve a level of extended duties, which will increase public reassurance, improve operational effectiveness and help us retain and give job satisfaction to our staff.
"Our existing greenway wardens have embraced our proposals, willingly volunteered and now look forward to their new tasks."
The new team of super wardens is expected to increase to 30 over the next few weeks.
http://news.scotsman.com/scotland.cfm?id=1634522005
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