More than 500 people have signed a petition in less than a week calling for traffic calming measures and a 20mph speed limit across Cliftonville.
The plea is being made following three serious incidents within a three mile stretch in just one week last month which resulted in three people taken to hospital with two flown by air ambulance including a child.
Jon Edgley Bond, who lives in Approach Road with wife Fliss and their two boys, has launched the petition in a bid to make the area safer.
Jon, who is a member of Park Approach Tenants & Residents Association (PATRA) which has previously campaigned for road safety measures, said: “There’s been a fantastic response to the petition from local residents with 500 signatures in the first four days and numbers are increasing by the hour. There’s a definite desire to see speed reduced on our roads.
“The petition for Cliftonville is one step of many we’re taking to raise awareness and convince the council to implement effective ways to reduce speed and increase safety in the area.
“We’d encourage other parts of Thanet to create their own petitions to show the council the clear need for drivers to slow down and drive safely in our towns and villages.
“We’d also encourage Thanetians to create residents’ associations so they can have more of a voice when communicating with the council.
“Something else everyone can do is notify our awesome local paper of any incidents, that way we all have a public record of what’s happening.
“We have great backup from local councillors in Cliftonville and ask that more local and KCC councillors get behind the campaign to get vehicles to slow down in our home towns.”
Cliftonville West councillors Alan Currie, Heath Keen and Harry Scobie said in a joint statement: “We fully support this petition for the implementation of traffic calming measures in Approach Road and other roads in Thanet where motorists drive at unacceptable high speeds which endanger lives.”
Cliftonville Primary and Avenues Nursery School are also supporting the petition.
Last month a man was arrested after a crash in Approach Road where up to seven cars were damaged. It is one of around a dozen serious incidents on Cliftonville roads in just 18 months.
The latest incident prompted the renewal of a call by Park Approach Tenants & Residents Association (PATRA) for traffic calming or a 20mph limit to be introduced.
The petition will be sent to Thanet district and Kent county councils.
Should be across the whole island!
Also there should be a driving test refresher every 5 years so they can learn what indicators are for!!
As of the 2001 census there was 58400 people living in the Margate area. That number has skyrocketed since then. The 500+ people who have signed this petition are the minority. Just like a lot of todays politics, the minority with their mob mentality seem to be the ones who get their own way and to hell with the majority. It seems the louder you shout the more you get.
Perhaps councillors should start listening to the majority of their constituents. Let the local population as a whole vote on this important issue rather than have the minority dictating the majority.
The people speeding in 30mph areas will continue to speed in 20mph zones, they simply don’t care. Drunk drivers and drug drivers will continue to drive just as recklessly in 20mph zones, again, they simply don’t care.
The police need to actively enforce current speed limits and have more vehicle checks, not just two or three tunes a year. More breathalyser checks and drug tests.
The 20 is plenty brigade fail to realise that people who disobey the law will continue to disobey the law. A reckless driver is reckless in all speed limited areas. Wake up, slowing the Traffic down horse and carriage speeds will hurt businesses, increase the already outrageous travel times and create frustration and road rage and simply make drivers more reckless in other areas trying to make up lost time and driving out of frustration.
We need this in ALL built up areas, nationwide.
We also need more awareness of the change in the law that gives pedestrians priority at junctions. I attempted it several times whilst walking earlier today, and only one car gave way to me!
20mph is not going to solve the problem of idiotic, speeding, selfish drivers. What we need are far more speed cameras so that those who do exceed the 30mph limit will get fined. And that will then ensure they slow down.
Hope Cliftonville county councillor Lesley game supports 20 mile speed limits
Drivers are not going to stop to let pedestrians cross at junctions until a long campaign is held by the government Transport Department making it clear of the regulations.
There are too many vehicles parked in a lot of these residential roads making them a single lane which is where many accidents/incidents happen. Drunks are not going to take any notice of speed limits if they are driving illegally anyway, but Thanet needs residential roads to be 20 MPH maximum anyway as 30 MPH is ridiculous in a lot of them. People need to drive sensibly and the police need to do more to make the streets safer.
None of these accidents occurred at or below the current speed limit, so that is not the problem. What is really needed is determined and lasting enforcement, so that those who regularly speed are either re-educated or ultimately lose their right to drive.
Perhaps the IoTN could do a feature on the new Highway Code? As Peter suggested, far too few people seem to have a y knowledge of it.
Looking at the accident statistics, in 2018 the A254 was the most accident prone in the country. The A255 is also a very dangerous road. There are so many junctions and parked cars and a high level of traffic flow that accidents seem likely. What the statistics show of each accident I do not know as they are quite difficult to analyse, but if you look at a map of accidents across Thanet, there are some black spots, but the accidents are generally everywhere showing a generally poor level of driving. Speed is a factor too as the faster you go, in the event of a collision the more damage is done.
The lack of white line painting defining junctions has been lacking over the past years, as has the use of speed cameras which I have never seen.
Speeds in the 50/60 mph are not uncommon on some residential roads and those are well known but never seem to be policed. It might be better if the Police had fewer accidents to attend giving them more time to be proactive about stopping the accidents in the first place.
Schools should have a responsibility to facilitate road safety training in not only road crossing safety, but bikes that the children ride to school and the banning of electric scooters.
We all have a role to play and reducing speeds would be a good start. Let’s all drive at 25 mph and try to reduce the crazy need to get to the next traffic light first.
Kent has the highest number of accidents in the country and that shows us that the KCC policies for road accident prevention are just not working.
why not try to get away from thinking that the private car is the only way to get around?
yes make our loved isle a 20mph max speed limit for all road that are currently 30mph limit and investigate reducing max speed limits on tdc roads with a current higher speed limit 40 mph + if any.if possible.
Local councils can apply any speed limit for (including cycles/scooters etc) speed via road narrowing, chicanes, humps, 1 way systems, closing roads etc.
Camera enforcement iirc needs to be done by an established/licensed company. ie kent cops or their contractors. Tdc will have the cash to pay.
Anyway its a great opportunity for tdc to spend their levelling up funds on making our roads safer.
spending the LU fund on missed property maintenance = could maybe considered wrong.
Seen it all before, everything is possible even in fanet
In the Carribbean everyone stops for a pedestrian waiting to cross straight away. One love. EZ now.😎
That’s a bit miss leading on this story. Isn’t that picture the crash caused by a drunk driver? He probably would stick to a 20 mph speed limit but still wouldn’t stop if he needed to in an emergency!
How many other accidents were whilst people were on the zebra crossings? Or is it the pedestrians that need to learn how to cross a road safely?
As a business owner on Northdown Road I know this would reduce my potential customers. These people that sign this petition don’t even use the shops in Northdown rd so how would they know.
Without reducing the limit straight away perhaps put speed cameras or cctv or lite warning signs first. If the cars don’t slow down then do something more drastic. Most need educating as they will only speed down the neighbouring roads instead!
Did anyone other than James mention enforcement? Without it 24/7 the scheme is worthless.
I got “The connection for this site is not secure”
You only have to look how many vehicles stick to the 20 mph along Margate seafront and up fort hill.hardly any.so I can’t see a 20 mph being enforced.unless cameras are installed.
Quite agree. Enforcement is the missing ingredient, not 20mph signage.