Councillors on Thanet’s Joint Transportation Board say a flashing speed indicator sign should be installed in Dumpton Park Drive in response to a petition for road calming measures.
The petition, with almost 2,000 signatures, was submitted by Ramsgate resident Keena Entwistle after the death of her son Ethan in a collision on the road.
Ethan was just two days away from his 19th birthday when the car he was a passenger in with a friend and two associates was crashed into a tree on Dumpton Park Drive on October 1, 2023.
Sadly, despite the efforts of his friend Ben Brazil, who was also a passenger in the car, to carry out CPR until medics arrived, Ethan did not survive.
Keena launched the petition, detailing why measures are needed, in the hope that it will prevent the loss of someone else’s loved one.
The teaching assistant asked for measures including flashing signs with the speed limit.
Keena is now a member of the Dumpton Park Drive road safety group which has been campaigning for measures since the death of a woman cyclist in a collision at the junction with Montefiore Avenue in 2022.
The campaign has also been supported by Broadstairs and Ramsgate town councils, Deer Park (care centre), Holy Trinity school and Bradstow School.
Keena said: “We really need KCC to do something, especially as there have been more crashes along the road.
“Holy Trinity, Bradstow School and Deer Park have also asked KCC to put measures in place. Personally I think that flashing speed indicators are the way forward, as most people are visual learners.”
In a report to the committee Kent County Council recommended “KCC’s Road Safety and Active Travel Team continue to monitor and assess collisions in Dumpton Park Drive.”
But councillors on the committee said simply monitoring the situation was not good enough.
Dumpton ward councillor, and safety campaign member, Pat Makinson, said: “Residents are frightened to cross the road due to the speeds even with the island refuges of which there are not enough.
“Witnesses see cars driving on the wrong side of the road, the wrong side of the islands, swerving round the school crossing patrols and shouting abuse at them, all to arrive in Broadstairs two minutes earlier.”
She added: “It’s hopeless expecting police to frequently carry out speed checks despite their best intentions. Some physical measures are necessary.”
Cllr Makinson said safety at Dumpton Park Drive was top of the agenda on Ramsgate’s Highway Improvement Plan but was ‘difficult to justify if KCC says there’s no problem.”
Broadstairs councillor Kristian Bright and Ramsgate’s Cllr Anne-Marie Nixey also spoke to back Keena Entwistle’s petition for effective traffic calming measures on the road.
Cllr Joanne Bright questioned why there needed to be more fatalities before the county council would implement measures and also backed the idea of a flashing speed indicator sign.
Cllr John Davis said that in light of the data perhaps better policing and road safety education was the solution. This view was echoed by Cllr Trevor Shonk.
The report to councillors highlighted four collisions on the road recorded over the last three years up to March 31, 2024.
Two of these were listed as slight. Two were shown to involve fatalities, that of Ethan last October and also of cyclist Jacqueline McFarling in January 2022.
This month Broadstairs resident Carl Brownlie appeared at Canterbury Crown Court and was ordered to undertake 280 hours of unpaid work and banned from the road for 12 months. He admitted causing the death of Ms McFarling after not seeing her when he turned right at the T junction with Montefiore Avenue.
Charges have not yet been brought over the crash that claimed Ethan’s life.
Councillors have recommended KCC consider installing a flashing speed indicator and that Kent Police carry out education sessions in schools related to traffic and speed.
