Safe School Crossings protest for Surrenden Road on Red Nose Day

View looking along Surrenden Road toward Draxmont Way

15 March 2011. Worried parents and campaigners will levy a “voluntary toll” on traffic using Surrenden Road on Friday, as Brighton & Hove Green Party calls for safer roads.

Safer Surrenden campaigners will levy the toll on one of Brighton and Hove's busiest roads as a combined protest and Red Nose Day stunt. They will set up a temporary safe crossing for school children at the junction of Surrenden Crescent and Draxmont Way between 8.20 and 8.40am, Friday 18th March 2011.

Fiona McWilliam, newly appointed organiser of the Safer Surrenden campaign said: “At least four children have been hit by vehicles over the past year. Worried parents are hijacking Red Nose Day to highlight the potential danger to children posed by Brighton and Hove Council's reluctance to reduce the 30mph speed limit or install fixed crossings on Surrenden Road. Several of the hundreds of parents and children who struggle to cross this busy road every day will ask fellow residents to pay a voluntary toll at the hazardous junction with Surrenden Crescent and Draxmont Way.”

The nearby Balfour-Varndean-Dorothy Stringer campus is home to four schools, a playgroup and a sixth-form college.

Green Party MP for Brighton Pavilion, Caroline Lucas, said: “The Safer Surrenden campaign is three years old. Children from six schools nearby cross Surrenden Road. There have been too many recent accidents involving personal injury in the road. It needs safe crossings at a suitable distance from the dangerous bend in the road near Draxmont way (Dorothy Stringer school and Varndean college), and at the Harrington Rd to Bates Rd crossing of Surrenden. The council has blocked attempts by myself and Councillor Amy Kennedy to get a crossing near Dorothy Stringer. (more>>>)

Green Party candidate for Withdean Sue Shanks said: “Safe crossings for schools are a natural part of Green Party policy, and we hope the safer Surrenden campaign is successful in obtaining a crossing.”

Sue Shanks added: “The Tory administration in Brighton and Hove is trying to reverse our city’s commitment to promoting sustainable transport, because it says car drivers are being penalised. What the Tories haven’t understood is that people want to choose sustainable alternatives - when they are made attractive and safe, as they already have done on the Continent - and traffic problems will ease.”

Green Party candidate for Withdean Paul Philo said: “We also need a 20 mph limit. The chance of death of a pedestrian hit by a car in an accident is drastically reduced at 20 mph compared with 30 mph. A 20 mph limit in all residential areas in Brighton and Hove will slow down traffic resulting in lower death rate and less carbon dioxide in atmosphere."

“Other groups in Brighton are calling for slower speeds and safe crossings, at places like Hollingdean dip, Braybon and Carden Ave in Patcham. Does a child have to die before a crossing is set up?” Mr Philo asked.

Safe walking and cycling routes are part of the Green Party's policy of sustainable transport for all, to provide safe travel choices, whether by car, bus, train, walking or cycling. Greens aim to make sustainable transport choices attractive to all users. That will, in turn, ease traffic problems. Greens are also working to set a 20 mph limit in residential areas for reasons of safety as well as traffic calming.