´óÏó´«Ã½

Residents are using "scare tactics" of a different kind to encourage motorists to slow down through their villages.

A dozen scarecrows have been placed in Draethen, Waterloo and Rudry in Caerphilly county to provide something eye-catching for passing traffic.

Community council chair Jayne Garland said other communities with road safety concerns had found alternative approaches had helped.

"We need to slow the traffic down," she said.

The community council, Caerphilly County Borough Council and Gwent Police have been organising speed watch campaigns since 2013.

Speeding motorists can expect a visit from the police if they are found speeding for a third time.

Ms Garland said the villages' roads could sometimes be used as a "rat-run" by motorists, despite sharing the space with pedestrians, cyclists and horse riders.

She said, while there had been four crashes in about six months on one stretch of road, there had been an increase in traffic since lockdown.

Caerphilly county was the first area in Wales to be placed under tighter local restrictions following a spike in coronavirus cases there.

Making the scarecrows was also a good reason to get people outside and to provide some light relief, she said, with a local farmer providing straw for the stuffing.

"Already we have seen people slow down to see the scarecrows and read the signs," said Ms Garland.