Green Party councillor Chas Booth successfully proposed that Edinburgh join the national Community Speedwatch initiative at a city council meeting.
In efforts to increase traffic safety, members of the public in high-vis would be trained to use hand-held laser devices in order to detect speeding vehicles in their free time and then pass details on to the police.
Drivers could be sent reminders about the dangers of speeding, with investigations launched against repeat offenders.
According to Transport Scotland, speeding is the leading cause of accidents in 18 per cent of fatal and 11 per cent of non-fatal cases.
Pedestrian fatality rates also increase exponentially with speed. While only five per cent of pedestrian collisions are fatal at 20 miles per hour, this rate rises tenfold with speeds exceeding 30 miles per hour.
Nevertheless, the proposal has been met with a wide-reaching backlash by locals and students alike.
A key issue is that laser readings are insufficient evidence for prosecuting speeding drivers, rendering speedwatchers, and by extent the police, largely powerless.
A finance student from South Africa remarked: “A bunch of civilians in high-vis without any authority? It’s just a laser tag party at that point.”
Another student stated that speed limits should be enforced by the police, and that funding would be better spent on more effective, permanent speed cameras.
Whether or not the proposal will go through in light of this criticism will be decided in upcoming council meetings.
“NCP Car Park Edinburgh Castle Terrace” by Arbron is licensed under CC BY 2.0.