The residents of Rotherfield have launched a petition to improve road safety in the village with a traffic-calming scheme.
Concerned locals point out that vehicles regularly exceed the 30mph limit when using the B2100 Church Road through the East Sussex village.
This is partly because roadside parking has led to motorists speeding up so they can get through the single lane of traffic rather than wait their turn.
This year, a young child and an elderly man have been injured by speeding cars. Previously, another boy was almost hit while climbing into a car, after which the family moved out of the village.
The petition states: “Traffic on Church Road has increased considerably over the past few years. Not only the weight and length of vehicles, which clog the road by the corner shop, but also the speed at which they travel throughout the village.”
It also notes that the road is covered with potholes which collect gravel that is thrown up at cars and pedestrians. Cars swerve to avoid the holes, causing more danger, and lorries driving over them cause excessive noise pollution at night.
It calls upon the parish and county councils to implement a ‘traffic calming scheme, which many East Sussex villages have been granted’.
Campaigner Angela Moore says: “When I moved to the village just over 10 years ago, I was so horrified at the speed and the fact they drove so close to my parked car that I went to the local police Âstation to see if anything could be done. Sadly they informed me that it would take a fatality to enforce any restrictions.”
She adds: “I have been informed by the parish council that it costs too much money to enforce any speed control through the village.
“Ideally we would like it to be 20mph as many children have to walk on the road to get to the local pre-school and primary school.
“We have been informed in the past that councillors believe that the fact there are stationary cars in the village creates a slower speed of traffic.
“Sadly this is not the case as they just drive faster to get from one end of the village to the other so that they don’t have to stop.”
The petition states: “We request that the road surface on Church Road be repaired immediately before there is a serious accident, and that the East Sussex County Council expedite its ongoing plan to limit the size and weight of vehicles allowed through Rotherfield.”
Last month a public consultation on plans to ban HGVs more than 10 metres long from the narrow street through Rotherfield was supported by 97 per cent of 304 respondents.
It followed an earlier petition to stop heavy traffic damaging buildings. The King’s Arms pub in Station Road has been hit seven times.
