Council criticised over South East speeding hotspot

  • Meridian

A council in the South East has been criticised for not doing enough to deal with a speeding hotspot.

Volunteers who regularly monitor how fast drivers are going across the county warn more needs to be done to get drivers, who’re travelling through the village of Wateringbury near Maidstone, to slow down.

The Speedwatch group handed out 1,145 to people who were recorded going over the 30 mile per hour limit in Wateringbury between August 2018 and 2019.

That's more than Ashford, Canterbury, Dartford and Dover combined.

In October, one driver passing through Wateringbury clocked up 62 miles per hour.

Across the period, 6,484 letters were sent to speeding drivers across the county.

Warning letters: what's the situation like where you are?

  • Ashford: 316

  • Canterbury: 251

  • Dartford: 94

  • Dover: 478

  • Faversham: 3

  • Folkestone: 102

  • Gravesend: 124

  • Hythe: 29

  • Maidstone: 280

  • Malling: 60

  • Medway: 3

  • Sevenoaks: 1,455

  • Sittingbourne: 187

  • Tenterden: 28

  • Thanet: 40

  • Tonbridge: 1,487

  • Tunbridge Wells: 1,530

  • Various: 17

Speedwatch is a national scheme which supports the police. Any driver they catch travelling over the speed limit is sent a warning letter.

The group believes Kent County Council should introduce a speed camera and extra markings on the road could provide a solution to reduce driver speed.

In a statement, Kent County Council said:

“KCC analyses crash data supplied by Kent Police to identify and potentially address roads that could receive further safety engineering measures.

“Managing the speed of traffic is essential to continue reducing the number of and severity of casualties on our roads.

“Kent Police is responsible for the enforcement of speed limits.

“We are happy to consider all requests for changes to roads.”