DRIVERS in Winsford are encouraged to slow down and get a smile from SID during the coming week.

The Townfields Road community have borrowed a Speed Indication Device from the borough council after becoming fed up with the amount of people driving too fast past their houses.

St Chad’s School employee, Lisa Lewis, and self employed buildings project manager, Graham Robinson, are out most evenings operating the device – which either offers a smile or frown according to the speed of passing cars.

“We’ve noticed that at certain times of the day we do get speeding along the road. Especially if they’re coming up to the traffic lights, they will speed up to get through on green,” explained Lisa.

“We think it’s a real problem and it’s got worse and worse. As a community, we just thought: ‘if we don’t do something then no one else is going to bother’.”

After meeting Cheshire West and Chester council officers, Lisa and neighbour Graham Robinson borrowed the camera.

They’ve monitored the speed of thousands of cars along the road at various hours of the day and will feed back their data to the council next week.

“It’s going really well, and having a really positive effect,” said Graham, “but the thing we still get are lorries breaking the weight limit.”

Graham has been monitoring the amount of HGVs using the road since 2009, and contacts the head office of hauliers that have ignored the warning.

A number of truck operators have made positive changes, but Lisa said some wagons plying the route to housing developments at Ways Green were still ignoring the signs.

“They shouldn’t be doing it. There’s a weight limit for a reason.

“We’ve got elderly people who use the road. There are also many young people that are going back and forth across the road, and a bit further down on Gladstone Street we’ve got the school.”

Do you have a problem with speeding motorists on your road? Email matthew.taylor@guardiangrp.co.uk or write to Guardian Series Newspapers, Theatre Court, Northwich, Cheshire, CW9 5HB.