Average speed check on A249 Detling Hill near Maidstone to start …

The new cameras for an average speed catchment area have been installed. The Kent and Medway Safety Camera Partnership has spent GBP159,288.88 to install the new equipment that now spans the 50mph zone from the M20 roundabout to the Kent Show Ground on the A249 Detling Hill between Sittingbourne[1] and Maidstone[2].

Newly installed average speed camera in Detling Hill

Last Monday (November 20) motorists spotted the previous safety equipment was removed[3] from the stretch of road under Jade's Crossing. It was the first time the highway had been without cameras since they were placed in 2001.

They were installed a year after a fatal crash that took the lives of eight-year-old Jade Hobbs[4] and her 79-year-old grandmother Margaret Kuwertz.

Now, both directions have a pair of cameras - one at the top of the hill and the other at the bottom. Along with the cameras, the road's 50mph zone was extended to include up to the M20 roundabout at the start of 2022.

Average speed check sign on Detling Hill

For more on how average speed cameras work, click here.[5] The Detling Parish Council spokesperson said: "The parish council is keen to ensure that the County is able to take action to deal with excessive traffic speeds.

"The replacement of this camera will in practice mean an improvement in the current situation, where enforcement is clearly lacking."

The new cameras are still in the process of being properly installed but will be active very soon. A Kent County Council spokesperson said: "In line with our Vision Zero road safety strategy, our aim is to improve safety on Kent's Road network and reduce the number and severity of casualties that occur as a result of collisions. "The nature of the road that the 50mph limit section of the A249 covers, from the M20 in the South to the Kent Show Ground in the north, has various features which mean that 50mph is a safer speed for this section of road.

"These include steep gradients, series of bends, narrow lanes, several road junctions, large number of property access points, several layby parking areas, possibility of queuing traffic at peak times and during events."

References

1. ^ Sittingbourne (www.kentonline.co.uk)
2. ^ Maidstone (www.kentonline.co.uk)
3. ^ safety equipment was removed (www.kentonline.co.uk)
4. ^ fatal crash that took the lives of eight-year-old Jade Hobbs (www.kentonline.co.uk)
5. ^ here (www.kentonline.co.uk)