Road accidents happen! Cornwall Council have recognised that by reducing many speed limits from 30mph to 20mph in areas where there are pedestrians, lives will be saved. The stark and unfair reality though is that in Porthtowan our residents, including our children getting on their school buses; are needing to walk along, share, wait and cross roads in 60mph and 40mph zones without pavement. Anyone being hit at these speeds has less than a 10% chance of survival! My child is one of them – but for over half the population of Porthtowan, it is their child or loved one too. That is why the newly set up Porthtowan Road Safety Action Group is doing this, and why we need your signature on this petition.

This change is needed as a matter of urgency, with safety being the priority. The speed limits in our village are inconsistent with other neighbouring villages, are currently wrongly classified and are a risk to all those using our roads.  

Our children are not the only ones at risk though. Porthtowan has changed and is now more spread out, has more visitors (one of only 7 blue flag beaches in Cornwall) with more businesses. This in turn means more people, cyclists and horses sharing roads that are not safe.  In several areas these road uses converge in the same limited stretch of road and create a significant compounding risk to road users.  These risks are accentuated by a significant frequency of high-risk blind junctions, entrances and exits and hills with limited visibility.  Our roads are used by:

• Slow moving farm traffic entering and exiting from blind junctions
• School children walking on the road and then having to wait at bus stops (which are in many sections just allocated parts of the road – not protected bus stops) in high-speed sections to access school bus routes where no footpaths exist
• Residents and holiday makers walking down the road in high-speed sections to access the beach where no footpaths exist
• Horses and ponies regularly walking along roads with child riders
• Holiday and festival traffic bringing high volumes of road users not familiar with risks that the local roads and speeds present
• Festival and event traffic
• Popular route with cyclists
• Mineral Tramways coast to coast cycle route crossing
• Popular route with motorcyclists seeking routes where speeds can be maximised and exceeded
• Slow moving caravans and campers exiting from limited vision campsites

Where in the past our village started in the area near the beach – it doesn’t anymore and yet the speed limits do not reflect the whole of the village of Porthtowan.  The high risk stretch of road starts in Cambrose to the west and extends to Coast Road (Atlantic Way) to the east – both in 60mph zones – we have two steep and currently dangerous hills with limited visibility at each end of the village, yet both are far too fast.  We believe we have a right to be able to drive, walk, cycle and ride safely in our village, however this is currently not the case for Porthtowan and Cambrose residents.  

This petition is to show Cornwall Council that our community is asking for change.  We have many different issues that need to be addressed so that our residents and those using our roads feel safer.  We want to ask for several remedies including reduction in speed limits, introduction of footpaths, improved signage and proper maintenance of the verges in this vicinity.  We ask those signing to consider adding a personal comment to show the impact this has on them – from them not feeling safe to walk to their beach, to having to take a chance in getting out of their driveway, to experiences, near misses and accidents.  This petition will form part of a detailed written submission outlining the issues that we are preparing to present to council (and beyond if necessary) as we ask to feel safer in our village.  

If you are representing a business please sign under your business name.