Dr Alan Billings, South Yorkshire Police and Crime Commissioner, visited Royston police station in Barnsley on Wednesday, 4 July to meet police and partner agencies who are co-located there.

The Commissioner also went onto the streets of Carlton with neighbourhood police and children from Carlton Primary School who were learning about the dangers of speeding.

The children took it in turns to operate a speed gun. Where motorists had significantly exceeded 30mph they were flagged down by a police officer and the children explained to them the dangers their driving posed to children and other road users.

Dr Billings said: “The children knew their facts and figures about the dangers of speeding and fearlessly explained this to the offending motorists.

“The drivers looked quite shame-faced and having children talk to them was probably more impactful than having a police officer do it.

“In one sense the drivers were lucky that they were caught by children – an educational exercise. Otherwise they would have been given a speeding ticket.’

“I was surprised to learn that the vast majority of speeding offences were committed by women drivers.”

The neighbourhood policing team are planning a number of awareness raising exercises with pupils from local schools in the coming weeks, in a bid to provide drivers with important road safety advice and get them to slow down.