‘Safe’ is a feeling as well as a statistic
At the Highways, Assets and Transport Cabinet meeting held on the 17th June, a request from Lib Dem Cllr Sue Burfoot to introduce traffic calming measures in Smedley Street, Matlock was refused. Despite a petition signed by 50 local residents requesting these measures, the Cabinet Member for Highways, newly appointed Cllr Kewal Singh Athwal, has agreed with the officer report and recommended the refusal of the request on the grounds that there have been insufficient 'personal injury collisions' to warrant introducing measures to slow down the traffic. It seems that the way that road safety is looked at by the County Council is to regard it in cost benefit terms and (apparently) 3 people have to be hurt within 3 years before even the most basic traffic calming scheme can be funded.
