Pupil launches 20mph speed limit petition

A pupil has launched a petition calling for the speed limit outside her school to be reduced from 30mph to 20mph.

Louisa, a Year 9 student at Breckland School in Brandon, Suffolk, started the campaign after noticing children trying to cross the road and drivers speeding on Crown Street.

She said over the next few weeks, she planned to conduct traffic surveys and speak with fellow students to increase the signatures on her petition.

Suffolk County Council said it had recently updated its 20mph speed policy to reflect a greater demand for lower speed environments.

"I think it's really important for the safety of students, other drivers, cycling students and just cyclists in general... because they might get run over," Louisa explained.

"I've had loads of experiences of watching cars speed down these roads with children trying to cross them."

So far, she has more than 280 signatures on her petition and recently met with Conservative MP for West Suffolk, Nick Timothy, about her work.

Timothy, in a statement, said he had "offered to support her however I can".

Fellow Year 9 student, Jake, bikes to school and also wants the speed limit changed

"It can be quite difficult at times with crossing roads, especially when there's cars that aren't really paying attention to what's happening around them," he said.

He added: "It can be chaos sometimes when there's loads of cars and a group of bikes together, especially when you're trying to walk across the road just outside school to get into the gates."

Noemi, also in Year 9, said she was happy with how many people had signed the petition and said many students who bike in were "pretty happy" with it.

"It's a really important thing to people that also live around [the school] because witnessing these types of things around a school area is quite alarming," she added.

Nadine Taylor is the head of Year 9 and felt positive that the authorities were already listening.

"I saw a near miss this morning when I was outside the school of a young person on a bike missed by a car," she said.

"We have lots of cars that park, but then don't indicate when they're coming in and out, which can be a massive issue.

"Parents are busy, they're not thinking about what they're doing, they're trying to do a quick drop off in a double yellowed line area."

She added: "We're not going to wait for there to be an accident; we want to prevent there being an accident and to promote student safety."

A spokesperson for the county council said it welcomed the pupil's interest in road safety.

"While we are not aware of any traffic incidents around this particular school, we understand the concerns people have," she said.

"Only the police can enforce the speed limit, but the public can get involved in helping raise awareness of speeding through the Community Speedwatch programme."

They added that guidance was available online to help people understand the criteria and requirements for implementing a 20mph zone.

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