London Road speed camera question to County Council

My Question:  For some time KCC has used a ‘intervene only after an accident approach’ to Highway Safety and relies on accident statistics rather than local knowledge or the more preferable preventative approach to accidents potentially saving life’s in advance of a fatality or injury. With this preventative approach in mind and indeed even relying on the current out of date and disgraceful criteria currently in place from this Administration, when will my local residents see more safety measures on roads such as London Road by The Hill in my division?  

Given the recent tragic deaths along London Road, when will KCC intervene and install speed cameras and 20 mph zones outside the two primary schools in this stretch of road to prevent future injuries?

The response from Mike Whiting:

Thank you for question Dr. Sullivan. I am truly sorry to hear about these tragic deaths and I extend my condolences to families and friends of those involved. In common with every Local Highway Authority in the country, the County Council uses an evidence-based approach to prioritise finite resources for road safety engineering schemes. This allocates the budget for improvements to the network based on factual evidence rather than risk. This approach is not unique to this Administration or any of its’ predecessors – it is universal practice throughout England. However, like Dr Sullivan, I would like to understand how best we can better manage risk in an affordable and sustainable way. I am pleased, therefore, to be able to inform Dr Sullivan that Kent is the first Highway Authority in the country to begin risk-rating our major road network so that we are better placed to bid for more funding from the Government to make our highways safer. This work has been recognised in the House of Lords and the House of Commons and by the Department for Transport, and will be presented in due course at the Environment and Transport Cabinet Committee I would be pleased to meet with Dr Sullivan and officers to discuss how this approach might apply in her division and the specifics surrounding the situation in The Hill.

We are meeting in August.