I’m so fed up with drivers racing on my street I spent £8,000 building my own SPEED BUMPS – kids are in danger
A RESIDENT who is so fed up with drivers racing on his street spent £8,000 building his own speed bumps because kids are in danger.
Adrian Kent, 65, introduced the drastic measures in a bid to stop motorists speeding down the 100-metre private street near Tankerton, Kent.
Adrian - who moved to the area four years ago - thought drivers would respect it being a private road and drive to its conditions.
But the grandad decided to act after his grandchildren became too scared to play outside and neighbours were repeatedly hit by stones flicked up by cars.
He told : "People were happy to tear down it at 30 to 40mph.
"A neighbour's car window was smashed by stones flicking up and some of the stones are quite big.
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"We've even had a car transporter through here."
The 65-year-old split the cost with one neighbour to add tarmac and speed bumps between St Swithin's Road and Newton Road - which homeowners are responsible for maintaining.
"We moved here in 2018 and by 2019 we thought we would try to do something about it.
"I thought if we were to repair it we would do a permanent surface so we decided to put the bumps down.
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"We spoke with the neighbours and they agreed but they weren't interested [in paying]."
Unfortunately, the home-made ramps failed to stop motorists from hurtling through the 5mph zone at speeds of up to 40mph.
Despite this, one resident had praised Adrian for taking action on the street.
They said: "We live close-by and have witnessed, prior to these changes to the road layout, two or three occasions where delivery drivers have nearly hit the children from primary school as they walk home.
"The road was often used as a cut-through and was becoming more dangerous by the day.
"I can only thank the homeowners for making this safer for the children and other pedestrians at their own expense."
But Adrian does admit that the speed bumps were a "waste of time and money".
The final straw came when a cement mixer hit one of the bumps and spilt its load all over the street, leaving Adrian with a two-hour cleaning operation.
He then decided to put in planters to block off part of the road, which were introduced 18 months ago after KCC Highways, the fire service and police raised no objections.
This seems to have more of an effect, according to Adrian who describes the road as "lovely and quiet".
The grandfather added: "It's lovely and quiet now, but the amount of traffic coming down here was quite something before.
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"I had the feeling people liked driving on the dirt road - especially the young guys.
"It has given us long-term stability over the road surface and it is safer."