A Ramsgate district councillor is calling for 20mph speed limits across the town and the replacement of bollards and repairs to lighting in Addington Street after the front of a Grade II listed building was destroyed by a hit and run driver.
The property, at 41 Addington Street, was hit by the vehicle at 11pm yesterday (September 24). The car also knocked down a lamppost and hit several other vehicles before the driver fled.
A person who had been asleep in the building at the time of the crash was given accommodation by the nearby Falstaff Hotel.
The incident has increased local concerns about safety on the street and the need to address it before there is another crash.
Central Harbour Green Councillor Becky Wing was alerted to the incident by a resident who was “woken by what sounded like an explosion.”
Witnesses say the driver appeared to have been under the influence of alcohol and lost control at speed before driving into the property and then fleeing the scene.
This morning the area around the building has been sectioned off by scaffolding, the front is supported but there to be little left of the lower part of the historic property.
Councillor Wing said: “There are ongoing issues with speeding not just long Addington Street, which is one way, but across Ramsgate and something has to be done.
“Locals and myself have witnessed regular speeding along Addington Street, mounting of the curb by large vehicles and even an excessive number of cars actually going the wrong way, and there are no present measures in place to stop this.
“A number of years ago a property further down the street, the then Suzy Nina Interiors shop, suffered similar damage again from a speeding car. The situation is not helped by missing bollards placed to protect the various historic buildings and new lighting that at present is simply not working.
“After the collapse of one lamppost, another leaning badly had to be taken down and has yet to be replaced. In addition, the lighting units attached to a number of buildings do not work and have not been upgraded by KCC.
“KCC appears not to have undertaken any maintenance of either bollards or lampposts for a number of years and has failed to replace many of those they have removed. Some basic repairs to the road were undertaken recently but it remains in a terrible state, as for the drains, one on Spencer Street is completely blocked and has now rewilded itself.”
Due to mounting concerns Cllr Wing has now met with a representative from the ’20 is plenty’ campaign group and says the community will get behind a reduction of speed on Addington Street and hopefully along other roads.
She added: “This needs the support of Thanet council and especially KCC. There is a strong community presence in this part of Ramsgate, people look out for each other and take a pride in their surroundings but need the help of TDC, KCC and the police to tackle many issues including dangerous driving which clearly puts people and properties at risk.
“This event could have been much more serious given there was an adult asleep at the time in the property. Thankfully they are OK. Interestingly, many locals have mentioned the positive effects of having bunting up for the recent Addington Street Revival Fair, one being that it seems to reduce/slow traffic and larger vehicles stop using it as a short-cut and cars as a ‘rat run’.”
Police enquiries
Kent Police has confirmed officers are making enquiries into the crash.
A spokesperson said: “Kent Police was called to a report of a single-vehicle collision in Addington Street, Ramsgate at around 11pm yesterday.
“Officers attended the scene where damage had been caused to a building, a lamppost and a number of parked cars. There were no reported injuries.
“Enquiries are ongoing to establish the circumstances of the incident and locate the driver who had left the area before police arrived.”
Number 41 Addington Street was Grade II listed in 1976. The house and shop dates to a period circa 1801-21.
Happy to help
Wrong, Andrew. Check this:
https://www.rospa.com/Road-Safety/Advice/Drivers/Speed/20mph-Zones-and-Limits.aspx
“Andrew” that’s not official government statistics. Try again.
“”Andrew”” I wasn’t aware that the only data of consequence is that published officially by the government.
So, presumably, we should take take great heed of the “yellowhammer ” Brexit document?
A 20mph limit should be in place in residential zones, along with traffic calming measures such as chicanes.
Whilst I’m very sympathetic to all those concerned (except the driver of the vehicle) speeding and antisocial driving is a problem most, if not all of Thanet suffers from, something needs to be done to deter this, harsher penalties, perhaps crush their bloody car for starters.
A 20mph limit will not deter a drunk:drugged up driver. Longer prison terms will though.
How about a minimum of 5 years and banned for life!
I think you’ve got “Issues “, Andrew. Try changing your tablets.
A 20mph zone will not stop drunk and drug drivers. The 20is plenty anti car nannies will soon be telling us that reducing speed limits will also cure cancer.
Numerous organisations have done independent in depth studies of speed limits and in a lot of areas there are more accidents in 20mph streets than before the reduction in speed limits.
Perhaps the council and police should actually police the 30mph zones, why aren’t we seeing drug swipes used in Thanet? When was the last time anyone actually saw the police doing breath tests? When was the last time anyone saw speed traps on Thanet’s roads. Thanet roads are dangerous not because of the 30 mph speed limit, they are dangerous because of the local council and police force failing to perform their jobs and fulfill their duties.
The 20 is plenty nanny brigade have their agenda and they are bending statistics to their way of thinking. These people will not actually be happy until every car is removed from our streets.
A 20 mph speed limit adds more pollution to the local environment as cars will be travelling in lower gears and will be backed up and make journey times longer, not to mention the extra deaths the pollution will cause.
Rather than believe everything that the 20 is plenty car haters tell you, research it for yourself and many councils are removing their 20 zones because of the extra accidents they have caused.
A 20mph zone should be implemented in all residential areas and should include traffic calming measures such as chicanes to make it physically difficult (ideally, impossible) for drivers to drive fast there.
Some of “Concerned”s comments are simply absurd. Calling people”anti-car nannies”, for example. How many people were killed or injured on the UK’s road last year?
I would, actually, be happy if people stopped driving cars. But governments don’t seem very interested in improving public transport.
Marva, You do make me laugh, your seriously deluded arguments on previous posts on this site have made me believe that everything you type needs to be taken with a pinch of salt. If someone posts that the sun is yellow you would argue it’s red just for the sake of it. It’s impossible to have a debate with you because you fail to listen to reason. I have the sense that when you are losing an argument you just shout louder and in your opinion you have never been wrong about anything.
Roads not road. And is “car haters” supposed to be an insult?
I am proud to being one of the ’20 is plenty nanny brigade’ identified by ‘concerned’ and happy to share my details with anyone that wishes to get 20mph where they live. Please contact me at 20’s Plenty for Kent.
I’d be happy to see the evidence that ‘Concerned’ cites. The facts that I have found are:
1: each 1 mph reduction in speed in urban areas reduces casualties by 6%.
2: 9 out of 10 pedestrians will survive an impact at 20mph; at 30mph the survival rate is just 6 in 10
3: Bristol, Edinburgh, Brighton, Calderdale, Porstmouth, Newcastle, Chester, Bath…all of which have embraced 20mph as the default speed limit (with 30mph exceptions where appropriate) have seen casualty reductions of 20% plus
4: Road safety organisations around the world recommend 20mph (or 30kph) where people and motor vehicles mix
5: Studies (e.g. from UCL) show that reduced speeds reduces pollution
6: Reduced speed limits make almost no difference to overall journey times in urban settings. It is congestion that affects journey times
7: Lower speed limits make it more likely that people will have confidence to walk and cycle, reducing pollution, improving health etc
8: More enforcment is welcome, but the introduction of Intelligent Speed Assistance on all new cars from 2022 will help to achieve compliance
Bath has seen a rise in deaths in their 20mph zones in 7 out of 13 20mph zones. Rather than embracing the 20 mph zones they would like to reverse them and go back to30mph but it’s too costly to revert back. Councillors in Bristol have fought to get some of the 20mph zones reversed back to 30mph because they are clogging up the city’s roads with traffic and are actually more dangerous.
Manchester scrapped their 20mph zones, tower hamlets is reporting that there are more accidents in the new 20 mph zones and most residents are against them. Hampshire has stated that their 20mph trials provided neutral impact on road safety and provided no evidence of improved road safety.
There are more and more councils that have gone down the 20 is plenty route and are now admitting it has failed. The problem with the people who support the car hating agenda of 20 is plenty is that they only listen to the statistics given by 20 is plenty, they are like a cult who only believe what they are being told by their new masters.
81% of drivers ignore 20mph zones according to the department of transportation.
20 is plenty only report statistics that they have skewed to their agenda. It’s propaganda and you have been taken in by it.
Clearly, on the basis of your argument, the way to reduce road deaths is to *increase* the speed limit.
Err?
What a ridiculous thing to say. The way to reduce accidents is to enforce the current speed limits. Errrrrrr Once again it just shows your narrow way of thinking.
I am seriously starting to believe that you and Marva Rees are the same person. I have long suspected that Marva uses numerous identities on this site and you I suspect are one of them. Whenever someone disagrees with Marva you mysteriously appear to back her up. Good night Marva
Another way to reduce road deaths is to improve public transport so much that the need for cars is greatly reduced.
Perhaps the Andrew who posted at 6.25 pm agrees with me about several things. He certainly is not me. Neither is Adrian Berendt. I only use my own identity, why would I bother with a pseudonym?
I think ‘concerned’ needs to check a few things:
1) What is your source for ‘more deaths in 20mph zones in Bath’? Bath has seen a reduction in casualties, but NO deaths on 20mph roads, as far as I can see. ‘Concerned’ may be referring to a discredited report which was rejected by the Bath & North East Somerset Scrutiny Committee as having insufficient data. http://www.20splenty.org/banes-report.
2) Manchester didn’t scrap its 20mph zones. It paused introducing more, but there are likely to be more associated with the introduction of the Beeline walking and cycling initiative
3) Hampshire. I’d be reluctant to quote a county that is consistently in the top 5 ‘worst performing’ local authorities for road casualties. However, it’s worth noting that 13 out of 14 of the areas chosen by HCC for 20mph ‘pilots’ showed reduced speeds / range of speeds or were already low speed environments. http://www.20splenty.org/hampshire-review-critique
4) ‘Concerned’ is right to highlight that more and more Local Authorities are embracing 20mph. Of the 51 LAs that now have 20mph, which ones are now ‘regretting implementing 20mph’?
5) ‘81% of drivers ignore’ is incorrect. If you read page 2 of this year’s DfT report on speed compliance you will see a number of conclusions that should NOT be drawn, such as “[These statistics] are not representative of the level of speeding across the whole road network – which we would expect to be lower”. In fact the DfT acknowledges that the 9 sites chosen are atypical of most 20mph roads.
Those are my evidence sources. Happy to see those from ‘concerned’
Marva (and others). I know that Cllrs Becky Wing (in Ramsgate) and Barry Lewis (in Margate would be pleased to help you to get 20mph in your area, as would I. Please don’t hesitate to contact any of us.
Thanks Adrian.
The boy racers have got a lot worse in the last few years. We should all contact MP Craig Mackinaly and demand 20mph zone/speed humps for Ramsgate.
I live on Addington Street and am constantly appalled by the speeds drivers travel down the road. I seen multiple car crashes and traumatised accident victims splayed out of the floor. I frequently see cars and motorbikes mounting the curbs or driving at speed in the wrong direction and even scooped up a mown down cat, to take to animal hospital that sadly died in my arms. It’s a narrow street with narrow pavements and I have made several complaints to KCC/ TDC in the hope of avoiding more injuries or deaths. It’s very sad to see the destruction to this beautiful property but hope the authorities finally take action. I believe traffic calming options are urgently needed on the street or better still resident access only/pedestrianisation.
A narrow road such as this, like many others in the town, was originally designed for donkeys and carts in the 18th and 19th Centuries, not formula 1 racing. Perhaps ‘sleeping policemen’ or barriers would help. Conversely, traffic does have to keep moving.