Lib Dems Embark on Road Safety Campaign

10.50.12pm GMT Wed 22nd Nov 2006

Thurrock Liberal Democrats have launched a massive road safety campaign by sending two road safety petitions to Thurrock Council and separate letters calling on the Leader of the Council and Essex Police to take immediate action to stop the regular and flagrant violations of weight restrictions by HGVs including petrol tankers on Devonshire Road on Chafford Hundred.

After witnessing a speeding petrol tanker on Devonshire Road calls for joint action by the authorities have now been renewed by Earnshaw Palmer former Councillor for Chafford Hundred who said. "It is bad enough to have these juggernauts on this road and equally worse for a petrol tanker with its hazardous cargo which is highly inflammable."

"It poses unacceptable and potentially catastrophic risks to the residents whose houses abut this road."

"The company concerned has been contacted and if they persist they will be named and shamed and their details will be made available to the police for further action."

"Chafford residents go to bed at night in the misguided assurance that a major road on the boundary of the estate is safe"

"They need to know that in some respects this is not the case. Devonshire Road is a by pass with weight restrictions which have not been adhered to or strictly enforced."

"Given the fact that these petrol tankers' load can be anything between 39, 400 to 42,000 litres; an accident involving one of them on this road on the boundary of the largest privately owned estate in Europe, could result in consequences too profound to even contemplate."

"The time has come for Essex Police and Thurrock Council to work together by using appropriate laws and appropriate technology to solve this problem."

"I believe that the solution would be to install CCTVs at strategic points on this road to identify the vehicles which flout the weight restrictions with heavy penalties for defaulters.

"It will be an effective deterrent and Devonshire Road would be used by vehicles for which it was intended."

Galleon Road safety campaign calls for the introduction of traffic calming measures and zebra crossing on this road on Chafford Hundred. This road was the scene of a fatal accident not so long ago.

Over the weekend there was a car crash just a few yards from where the fatal accident occurred not so long ago.

The road lends itself to speeding and it is disappointing that Thurrock Council has done nothing since to improve the safety of this road. The visibility is poor especially at its junction with Mayflower Road.

The other campaign calls for the introduction of mandatory 20 mph speed limits on the roads where schools are located on Chafford Hundred. This would affect Mayflower, Gilbert and Bark Burr Roads.

Both petitions signed by over six hundred people are now being considered by the Highways Department and an outcome is expected shortly.

In 2002, The Liberal Democrats started a campaign for road safety improvements by calling for traffic calming measures and a zebra crossing on Fleming Road.

Although these measures were finally implemented in 2005, Earnshaw Palmer who led this campaign and collected 793 signatures said, "Perseverance does pay off in the end. We demonstrated that there was overwhelming support by residents and sheer necessity for appropriate traffic calming measures to be introduced on Fleming Road."

"However, I am disappointed that drivers still regularly travel above the speed limit on this road."