Oake residents have been asked to come forward to join the village speed watch group. The call from the Parish Council Vice Chair, Cllr Dunn, came after a van hit a man carrying a baby on Monday.

The volunteer group is one of many traffic calming and deterrence measures that are working to combat antisocial driving, with the council at work to introduce fresh deterrence measures.

The village already imposes a 20mph limit on drivers near the primary school, and uses a community speed watch team and speed humps in an effort to keep the streets safe.

Speeding has been a longstanding problem in the area, which has had lethal consequences. In 2020, a driver killed 24-year-old Henrietta Jane Harrison as she was walking her dog in the village in the early hours of the morning.

This week, on Monday April 24, a van hit a man carrying a baby from behind, while travelling past Oake primary school.

It is believed a grey Ford Transit van hit the pedestrian at around 3pm when children were leaving school. The driver failed to stop at the scene. Fortunately the baby escaped unharmed, and the man was not thought to have been seriously injured in the incident.

Now local councillors are working on new measures that they hope will drive down rates of speeding through the village.

Cllr Fern Dunn, Vice Chair of the Oake Parish Council said: "At the moment we have a speed watch team which I am part of. There are about six or eight volunteers who stand outside the school or on Hillcommon.

"We would like to get some of those speed indicator devices or at least one that we can move around the village. There are similar ones in Milverton and through Preston Bowyer which I think are very effective.

"We are in the process of looking at getting those, of course we'll need some money, but its something that is under way. We have also added a flashing triangle, which flashes at drivers to stick to 20mph when passing the school during its opening hours.

"Ultimately it's down to individuals whether they stick to the speed or not."

However Cllr Dunn did not think a speed camera could be introduced, because they can't catch speeders on bendy roads.

"I'm not sure about a camera. The speed indicator devices, some of them can register number plates, I think you're looking at a lot of money there.

"it's an ongoing project, and something we'd like to see if we can raise funds and sort something out. It's always a worry with the school there - and even in the middle of the night residents complain about people speeding through the village. The speed bumps don't seem to be having much of an effect.

The Oake speed watch team are regularly on guard against antisocial drivers, armed with a speed gun they pass on the details speeding drivers to the police.

"It's usually at least three of us. We have one person logging the amount of cars that pass with a clicker. We have one person with a speed gun, it looks like a tiny mobile phone, it immediately registers a car's speed.

"As soon as drivers see us in our bright yellow tabards they immediately slow down. If we do get somebody speeding we jot down their license plate number and report it to the police. After taking the relevant information that person will get a letter from the police. I like to think it's a deterrent when people see us outside the school.

"Now that this incident has happened it would be brilliant if we could have more volunteers and could arrange more sessions. It's always down to volunteers, it would be great if some more parents from the school would join.

Cllr Dunn praised the local PCSO, Vicky Henderson, who makes regular visits to the school.

"Our local PCSCO, Vicky Henderson, is very good and very supportive in the area. She visits the school to remind parents about parking. She makes an effort to be everywhere all at once.

The council has been exploring introducing radar speed signs that show a motorist their speed on a digital screen for two months.

Cllr Ben Ballardie was supporting work to introduce the new traffic calming measures. He said: "We've got flashing amber lights that come on during pick-up and drop-off times at the school.

"I know there was talk of trying to make the whole village a 20mph zone. Everywhere is affected by speeding, but particularly around the school it is a quite dangerous area. I've got children at the school, now and again I do the school run and my wife does it every day. It's pretty lethal there really.

"We're doing as much as we can do but it's very difficult to combat reckless driving. We've got support from the local PCSO Vicky Henderson and she regularly pops by to make sure that people are parking correctly and this sort of thing, but obviously she can't be there every minute of every day.

"We're looking at speed indicator boards where it flashes your speed as a visual deterrent They're quite effective. There's quite a process that goes with introducing that.

Police are appealing for witnesses of Monday's incident in Oake to come forward. Anyone with information about the incident should call 101 and tell the call handler they're phoning in relation to log 626 of April 24.