Safety camera petition launched

A petition has been launched to set up a permanent safety camera on the A414 London Road to combat speeding motorists.

Local police have been stepping up speed checks in recent months following concerns about drivers speeding on the stretch between the Bluecoats and Foxholes roundabouts.

Speeds approaching 60mph have been recorded in the 40mph zone.

On 25th February police handed out 7 Traffic Offence Reports for speeding, 4 for mobile phone use and 1 for no insurance in just a couple of hours. Officers were also out last week monitoring traffic.

The petition has been started by Emma Taylor who highlights the close proxomity of local schools, with parents walking their children close to the busy road.

This is a walking route for local Hertford families to primary and secondary schools (Simon Balle and Abel Smith), pre-schools (Busy Lizzies and The Dell) and industrial-estate based infant nursery (Bright Horizons) as well as the industrial estate. Many of us feel in danger, walking with our backs to speeding traffic, not helped by the removal of metal railings in 2020/21 which stopped cars mounting the pavements (some vehicles did hit the railings before they were removed).

We also have experienced cars skipping the red lights by the Mercedes Garage where many more children cross (primary and secondary school age) coming from other parts of the town.

We have made some progress with more radar police checks happening - the police did come this week and tweeted that a car was captured doing 56mph in the 40mph zone! 56mph, potentially 6 feet from people walking on a pavement (with no railings) with prams and children.

Our aim is to get funding for a speed camera, to keep local people walking this route safer but it is proving challenging despite official police speed checks recording significant breaches of the 40mph limit (November 2017) and to date councillors have not had the influence we need to make this happen.

:: Safety camera petition

Councillor Bob Deering said: "The enforcement of speed limits is a police matter and I've been pressing the police to take action on London Road for some time. I'm pleased to say that they've recently stepped up their efforts and they've been out more than once with speed guns and officers on the ground. I joined them on one occasion and saw at first hand tickets issued to several drivers. This is good but a more permanent solution would be better and I've therefore signed the petition and hope this will help.

The A414 is a strategic route that runs across Hertfordshire from Hemel Hempstead in the west and through Hertford in the east, where congestion frequently leads to long queues and increased pollution in the town, particularly around the Hale Road and Bluecoats roundabouts.