Businesswoman calling for tougher speed limits to make Sevenoaks safer

KentOnline / KMTV

A public consultation is trying to implement these limits to a number of roads in the district. But some residents fear that this won't be enforced effectively.

Transcript

00:00 Almost 300 road accidents have happened in Sevenoaks town in the past decade

00:04 and now locals are urging for a fundamental change to a number of their roads.

00:09 They want to see 30 limits swapped to 20

00:12 and have put in five petitions in the past six years calling on this.

00:16 A consultation has opened asking members of the public to have their say.

00:20 The cost to residents in Sevenoaks over the course of the last 10 years

00:25 has been £9 million worth of accidents.

00:28 If we can reduce that with only a few tens, maybe a hundred thousand pounds worth of

00:34 infrastructure to get the speed down then that will be a huge saving for residents in Sevenoaks.

00:41 Kent County Council led a consultation last year calling for all residential roads in

00:45 Sevenoaks to have 20 mile per hour limits.

00:48 This has now been refined following feedback

00:50 and these are just some of the roads that could face these 20 limits.

00:55 One business says putting in 20 limits would be vital for safety.

00:59 She's had her off licence for more than 10 years

01:01 and has said in this time she's seen too many people speeding at 40 miles an hour.

01:07 Yeah it's really, this road is very very busy and people are really speeding up.

01:12 We need to sort this out. It's very dangerous because people use all these shops and they're

01:17 crossing roads all the time, even the school children.

01:20 But some residents fear this won't be enforced effectively.

01:24 Complete waste of time. They'll all ignore it. There won't be any enforcement. What's the point?

01:29 I don't think it's important really. I can maybe see where they're doing it

01:33 around schools and that sort of area but it doesn't really concern me.

01:38 Yeah I think it's going to be good and it's going to be

01:41 beneficial to the majority of the people around this place.

01:46 The Mayor of Sevenoaks feels this change is vital for improving not only road safety

01:51 but air quality too.

01:52 The data on the impact of an accident at 20 clearly demonstrates that the risk of death

01:58 at, if you are hit as a pedestrian at 20 miles an hour, is significantly lower than if you're

02:03 hit by the same vehicle at 30 miles an hour. So in terms of pedestrian safety or cyclist

02:08 safety there is an enormous benefit. In terms of fuel consumption for the individual and the

02:12 cost that goes with that, it can reduce the consumption but also the air quality of the

02:18 towns affected can be positively impacted by it.

02:22 Those wishing to have their say have until the 14th December to let Sevenoaks Town Council

02:27 know their thoughts.

02:29 Sophia Akin for KMTV in Sevenoaks.

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