**Please ensure you add your full postcode when you sign - without it Kent County Council won't count your vote**

> PLEASE: sign and share this petition!

> WHY?  When we have collected 1000 signatures Kent County Council will have to debate our petition at their Joint Transportation Board.  The more support we can show the quicker there will be action!

> WHAT? We are asking the Town, District and County Council to make this route to school safer by:

·       reduce the speed limit on this unsafe road.

·       invest in better infrastructure along the road and pavement.

There are 4 schools, Seal C of E Primary School, Trinity School, Weald Grammar, Tonbridge Boys Annexe along this stretch of road.  It is vital that with so many students the children and carers have a safe route to school.

This road is currently unsafe because:
 1)     HIGH SPEED LIMIT: This section of Seal Road from Greatness Park Cemetery to Seal Drive, ½ a mile, has a current speed limit of 40mph.  At 40mph the stopping distance along this stretch is 36 metres, if the speed was reduced to 20mph the distance would be reduced to a safer 12 metres (Highway Code, 2021). The risk of being killed is 5x higher in collisions between car and pedestrian at 30mph compared to 20 mph (Kröyer et al., 2014), a 6mph increase in impact speed will result in doubling of the fatality risk at urban speed levels.

2)      NARROW PAVEMENT: The pavement is extremely narrow and does not allow for easy two way traffic, students and parents often step into traffic. There is nowhere to escape spray and grit from passing traffic.

3)      NARROW ROAD: The narrowness of the road and the high speed means that vehicles drive closer to the pavement than they should when passing pedestrians and wider vehicles drive the gutter which in turn throws up grit and water onto pedestrians.

4)     BUSY JUNCTION: The Seal Road, Seal Hollow Junction is one of busiest junctions in Sevenoaks with school and town traffic, with one insufficient crossing space, so crossing also occurs in other unsafe areas too.

5)      HEALTH: 20mph zones can improve air quality, reducing noise pollution and encourage walking and cycling for the whole community (ROSPA, 2017).  Walking to school can also be associated with lower levels of depression, anxiety and better well-being. (McMahon  et al. 2017)

6)     POLLUTION: Parents are taking short journeys in their cars to allow their children safe and dry passage to school.  If this road was safer the environmental impact would measurable and our children would be breathing safer air!

7)     LACK OF SIGNAGE: There are very few visual or physical indications of the need to slow down for pedestrian school traffic. No traffic calming measures and no enforcement of the current limit.

SUPPORTERS

Cllr Richard Streatfeild MBE, KCC member for Sevenoaks:  “This petition has my strongest support. Speed reduction enhances traffic efficiency and reduces pollution. Critically it makes the roads safe to walk and cycle to school. It can’t come soon enough.”

Dr M Pawson, Head Teacher Trinity School:   “I am at the crossing most days and have serious concerns about the level of traffic, the type of traffic (heavy vehicles), the speed at which they travel and the number of students who cross the road. The path opposite the school is too narrow and cannot cope with the level of foot traffic. It often results in students stepping onto the road to make way for oncoming pedestrians, which puts them in harm’s way. Reducing the speed limit will certainly help.” 

Mrs E Bone, Headteacher Weald of Kent: “Weald of Kent is supportive of the proposal to decrease the speed limit on Seal Road as it will improve safety for our students.  At a time when we are encouraging students to make environmentally friendly choices in relation to their journey to school, it is vital that we are not asking students to risk their own safety in making these choices.”

Tony Clayton, Town & District Councillor: "The local schools - with nearly 3,000 students between them, understand that the A25 approaches to Seal and to the Trinity site are not safe.  The current higher speed limits past them make no sense at all. They need to be lower, and the change in driver behaviour this would bring could allow the pavement to be wider.  Students must be able to get to school safely, and without being soaked by traffic spray.”

Elizabeth Purves, Sevenoaks District Councillor: "Walking to school on the narrow pavement along the A25 is a nightmare! Lorries and cars thunder by, on a wet day spray soaking the children before they even get to school. If we want to encourage children to walk or cycle, we must make it safe."

THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT!

References: Highway Code, 2021: https://www.highwaycodeuk.co.uk/;  Kröyer et al., 2014: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0001457513003606;   ROSPA, 2017: https://www.rospa.com/rospaweb/docs/advice-services/road-safety/drivers/20-mph-zone-factsheet.pdf; McMahon et al. 2017: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27277894/