LOUGHTON: Pupils call for speed limit to be slashed after smash at school gates (From East London and West Essex Guardian Series)
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LOUGHTON: Davenant pupils call for speed limit to be slashed after smash at school gates
12:27pm Tuesday 22nd November 2011 in News By Tom Porter
LOUGHTON: Pupils call for speed limit to be slashed after smash at school gates
PUPILS have called for tighter speed restrictions to be imposed after two cars smashed in to one another yards from their school’s gates.
At 9am on Wednesday, November 9, a green Ford Fiesta and a blue Ford Focus were involved in a collision in Debden Lane, Loughton, just outside Davenant Foundation School, with one driver sustaining minor injuries.
The accident comes only weeks after Essex County Council reduced the speed limit along the stretch of road near the school from 40 to 30 miles per hour.
For two years parents, teachers and pupils at the school had campaigned for the speed limit reduction, claiming that motorists often lost control on the road's tight bends, putting the lives of pupils walking to and from school at risk.
After the latest smash they claim that the limit is still too high and have called for the speed limit to be slashed to 20 miles per hour and for clear signs warning drivers of the presence of schoolchildren to be put up.
They also claim that many drivers ignore the 30 miles per hour restriction, and have called for the current speed limit as well as any future reduction to be properly enforced.
Since 2005 there have been five serious and seven slight accidents recorded in Debden Lane in the immediate vicinity of the school gates.
Christiana Stassi, 17, who has fought for over two years to make the road safer for fellow pupils at Davenant, said: “If the accident had happened ten minutes earlier when there were children entering the school who knows what could have happened?
“This has been a problem for such a long time that something needs to be done about it.
“The road is dark and the pavement for the road is very narrow. Our uniforms are black as well which makes it even more difficult for us to be seen.
“It is so easy for drivers to break the speed limit and there are no signs saying that there is a school there. There are loads of children who walk along there in the morning and in the evening.
“We are aware that it has to be cost effective but the cost does not matter when children’s lives are involved.”
Davenant headteacher Chris Seward said: “There is definitely an issue with speeding down Debden Lane.
“We now feel that a 20 miles per hour speed limit there is necessary.”
Pupils intend to start a petition calling for the speed limit to be slashed.
Councillor Tracey Chapman, Essex County Council Cabinet Member for Highways and Transportation, said: “Essex County Council takes road safety very seriously and the speed limit on Debden Lane has recently been assessed and lowered from 40mph to 30mph. There are at present no plans to lower this limit to 20mph in the vicinity of the back entrance to Davenant School.
"There are advanced school warning signs on both approaches to the school and it is considered that the existing level of signage is sufficient and appropriate to give adequate warning to drivers.”
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Comments(6)
ClifftonX
says...
6:00am Wed 23 Nov 11
Hot Red Man
says...
11:59am Thu 24 Nov 11
GeorgeEmmett
says...
3:41pm Thu 24 Nov 11
Hot Red Man wrote:As a pupil at this school who has used the 'backgate' for nearly seven years I can say that most these other comments are wrong.
Im sorry, but because an accident happens its down to speed, what a load of balls. They were probably on their mobile phone. Calling for speed reductions because an accident happens and they do not even know the facts is just plain foolish.
Keefie wrote:
As far as I'm aware this accident was caused by a diesel spill. Where is the evidence that speeding was to blame ?
-I don’t know the ins and outs of the actual crash but let me assure you, even at 8.15 in the morning when the most amount of kids are walking by the road, very few cars keep to the speed limit. Fair enough, many of those cars are parents taking their kids to school, but that won’t exempt them if the speed limit is enforced.
ClifftonX wrote:
The situation isn't helped by the large numbers of PARENTS cars parked all along the road outside the school, specifically where there are yellow zig-zags. If they can't park there, they double park, or crawl along trying to squeeze in somewhere. However, the school never seems to do anything about this. They shoudl their own house in order first before making suppositions about things they don't know about.
-Parents parking their cars outside the gate is the reason that there are never crashes outside the gate at those times. The bad parking and selfish driving actually does its bit by slowing the speed limit right down. Essex county council should have protecting innocent children at the top of its agenda rather than shifting the blame onto the school.
Hot Red Man wrote:
Im sorry, but because an accident happens its down to speed, what a load of balls. They were probably on their mobile phone. Calling for speed reductions because an accident happens and they do not even know the facts is just plain foolish.
-Saying that the drivers were ‘probably on their mobile phone’ when you don’t know the facts is just plain foolish. Driving down that road is not dangerous whilst driving at a reasonable speed, the vast majority of accidents have been found to be because of an excessive speed, KNOW YOUR FACTS.
BTW Christiana Stassi, you haven’t been fighting to make the road safer, don’t lie.
Keefie
says...
6:39pm Thu 24 Nov 11
The school really should check the causes of these accidents before jumping on the speed bandwagon. This crash was caused by a diesel spill turning the road into an ice rink - fact. Go to the back gate and you will still see the pavement and road is stained green from the stuff put down to soak up the diesel.
pan
says...
6:42am Tue 29 Nov 11
The road behind Davenant does have some dangerous bends and people do drive quite fast down there, however I would have thought that over the years as and when Davenant has expanded that they would have made a larger gate with vehicular access at the other end of their grounds perimeter on the same road. This would allow the parents to pull in and pick up kids without blocking the road right at the beginning of the tightest bend. I can remember 25 + years ago parents being asked not to block the road or pick kids up from the rear access so its not a new problem.
Keefie says...
8:20pm Tue 22 Nov 11