The Voice of Spalding and South Holland
Almost 100 people have signed a petition calling for a village speed limit to be enforced before a child is killed.
Parents and villagers have joined forces to create an online petition demanding action in Six House Bank, West Pinchbeck, where drivers regularly exceed the 40mph speed limit around the school.
The petition has been set up by Lizzy Mich, who claims figures from a traffic survey carried out last year showed 49 per cent of drivers exceeded the speed limit travelling one way and 29 per cent travelling in the opposite direction.
In calling for support for her petition, she said: “This is a school route for a primary school (you can not get to the school without going along it) and a main bus collection area for three secondary schools at the church and the bridge.
“The 40 limit needs reducing and enforcing we have near misses every week. Don’t wait until a child dies.”
She says teenagers waiting for school buses are also left “frightened” by cars whizzing by at speeds sometimes exceeding 60mph.
More than 30 teenagers wait for school buses at three locations along the road, as well as all the four to 11-year-olds who pass by to get to the village’s primary school and a nursery and village hall.
She added: “It means there are lots of tiny children and parents, youth club users and riding schools all along this road, yet people regularly go along this 40mph stretch at over 60.
“Having spoken to the teenagers at the bus stop today they said they are often scared when waiting by lorries and fast cars coming within centimetres of them on the narrow path.
“From 6am every morning the sound of speeders wakes me up – they are my alarm clock Monday to Friday – and we get woken at night by those who think it is OK because it is night and no one will see them.
“It is not fair – it is a 40mph limit, we are not even after a change, it would just be nice for the existing limit to be enforced.”
The petition is available to sign at the change.org website and is calling on Lincolnshire County Council and Lincolnshire Road Safety Partnership to take action on speeding traffic.
Another parent who has signed the petition said: “I walk my three-year-old to and from pre-school on this route.
“I hate walking it as the path is narrow and without fail people speed past us at about 60 every day.”
Another added: “So many people have nearly been killed on this road.
“More and more kids are using this road as they have built many new homes, but when they built the new homes they didn’t think about the speed limit being dropped.
“A speed limit of 40mph on a road used by 100 pupils is so wrong.”
