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Your say: Anger at town's 20mph limit plan

20mph zone
20mph zone

Our readers have reacted angrily to a campaign calling for a blanket 20mph speed limit across residential Maidstone roads.

Criticism has been aimed at the Maidstone Green Party, the group campaigning for the speed cut.

It comes after we ran a story saying a campaign is being launched to cut speed limits in Maidstone to 20mph.

The 20mph Maidstone campaign is being launched at 10am on Saturday outside County Hall when campaigners will be handing out window stickers.

Tracy from Chatham responded to the plans by calling the Greens ‘typical’ for ‘not living in the real world.’ While Marc, a resident in Maidstone, branded the Greens a ‘waste of time’.

"My car does 30mph in fourth gear, so to do 20 I will need to be in second gear, which uses more fuel than if I did 30!" he said.

One reader, who called himself a ‘sceptical local’, questioned the terminology behind the campaign.

“It will be interesting to see what they mean by ‘residential roads’. Also, can the Greens also tell me how making me drive slower and my journey longer is going to reduce my emissions?”

Gary from Rochester has a quick fix to the problem.

“Maybe instead of lowering speed limits we should bring in a law that punishes pedestrians that cause accidents by crossing roads carelessly or failing to use safety measures provided,” he said.

A reader describing themself only as 'englishcad' has another solution:

"Why not have a man walk in front of each vehicle with a red flag? This would have the added bonus of solving unemployment! Aren't the Greens wonderful?" they joked.

Stuart in Maidstone, however, thinks the idea is a good one.

"I want to live in a real world where roads are much safer, where parents are not afraid to let their kids play outside. Twenty mph streets have been shown to reduce accidents by 60 per cent. We all know the chance of being killed by a car doing 20mph is far lower than one doing 30mph."

Another Maidstone resident, Wendy, agreed.

“Well done. This campaign deserves to succeed. It's about time someone gave a thought to other users of local roads, rather than just vehicle drivers.”

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