Following two serious road traffic accidents in Hawkhurst, Greg has expressed his frustration at the lack of progress on changing the policy on the location of new fixed speed cameras so that it takes Speedwatch data into account.
Greg commented:
"Last summer, I called a meeting with Kent Highways and the police to press the case for using data collected by Speedwatch volunteers to help inform the location of new fixed speed cameras. At the moment, the criteria for installing speed cameras is based on the number of fatal or serious accidents along a particular stretch of road. Speedwatch provides accurate information on where people are regularly breaking the speed limit and I think this also needs to be taken into account. One of the villages I cited at that meeting was Hawkhurst where Speedwatch volunteers had observed the highest proportion of speeders compared to any other Speedwatch scheme in the whole of Kent and very sadly there have recently been two very serious road traffic accidents – one involving fatalities.
"It is unacceptable, therefore, that whilst both Kent Highways and the police promised to review their stance on this, they remain of the opinion that Speedwatch data should not influence the location of new speed cameras. I have asked them to urgently reconsider their position."
Hawkhurst has the highest combined score (47/60) of any Speedwatch scheme in Kent (the next highest is 37/60). This score is based on the number of speeders observed per active session day, the proportion of excessive speeders and the proportion of advice letters generated.
During 2014 and 2015, Hawkhurst Speedwatch recorded the highest number of speeders in Kent (8,453 compared with 7,349 for the next highest scheme).
Six of the eight highest speeders recorded throughout Kent in 40mph zones were in Hawkhurst.
The two recent accidents took place in Hawkhurst on Sunday 24 September 2017 where three people died after a car crashed into a wall and on Sunday 22 October 2017 where two people were injured.