Residents of a Northumberland housing estate said NO to speeding on the roads where they live.
Locals living on Totnes Drive and Ringwood Drive on the Parkside Grange and Glade Estates in Cramlington signed a petition organised by former Police Officers Christine and Norman Dunbar.
Both retired Officers, with nearly 30 years service between them, organised the petition to get a 20 mph zone on the entrance to the estate and the main roads off it including Totnes Drive and Ringwood Drive.
A 20 mph Zone has been implemented by the local council in accordance with 2016 Transport Plan.
Christine Dunbar, a local community improvement campaigner , said
"I am pleased that common sense has prevailed on this issue and the 20 MPH speed limit has been adopted and the signs have gone up, there was a real concern that someone could get hit by speeding cars in Parkside Glade and Grange."
"Norman and I have been so impressed by the support local people have shown by helping get signatures and this shows a real commitment by the community to try to solve this issue before there was an accident"
"There are 20 mph zones around Cramlington and I think its time that 20 mph speed limit should be mandatory on all of our estates, we have been contacted by resident from other areas of Cramlington asking for help and support so we are going to continue with the petition and ask for 20 mph speed reduction in all Eastfield estates that currently have 30mph"
Norman Dunbar said
" I have trained with our local police to become a member of the Community Speed Watch Team and will help to enforce all reduced speed limits if necessary"
Local residents gave up their time to join Christine and Norman Dunbar, going door to door to collect signatures during the evening and at weekends.
According to RSPA (Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents) There are still a high number of casualties on urban roads in the UK. In 2014, 718 people were killed, 14,443 were seriously injured and 115,441 slightly injured in reported road collisions on built up roads in Great Britain.
A large proportion of these accidents occurred on residential roads, with 107 deaths on B roads in built-up areas and 256 deaths on other minor roads in built-up areas.
The majority of pedestrian casualties occur in built up areas: 22 of the 26 child pedestrians and 264 of the 372 adult pedestrian who were killed in 2014, died on built-up roads.
Pedal cyclists are also vulnerable in built up areas, with almost half of cyclist deaths (57 of 109) and most cyclist casualties (17,778 of 19,438) occurring on these roads.
The Department for Transport's current guidance encourages and supports Local Authorities to implement 20 mph limits and zones in situations where there is a particular risk to vulnerable road users.