On Saturday 20th April, over 40 local residents took part in a community walk to raise awareness for Road Safety. People young and old wore fancy dress, accompanied with their dogs they drew particular attention to the stretch of the Ilsham Road that doesn’t have a footpath. Participants met at the Stoodley Knowle Community Café and walked to the Meadfoot Beach Café promoting the ‘Safe Streets Now!’ campaign.
Participants also took it in turns to try on (and mess around!) in a bubble-suit which represents the bubble of space vehicles should give pedestrians but sometimes don’t.
Organised by Beth Huntley as a part of her petition to the council for improved road safety, she was enthused by the many people who told her they were frightened to walk along this stretch of road. ‘Today we will wear high visibility clothing and marshal the road, walking together as a group to make it safe. The message is that we want to be able to walk or cycle along this stretch of road and those with disabilities, prams, young children, nervous dogs all should be able to as well.’
The Ilsham Road connects two important green spaces, Stodley Knowle and Ilsham Green, but the dangerous road between often forces residents into their cars or to avoid the area entirely. The walk was part of the Safe Streets Now! national day of action featuring over 20 locations around the country. Nearby, in Exeter a Kidimas Cycle Ride took place to highlight the issue within the City.
A local resident out litter-picking on Meadfoot Beach said ‘Congratulations on taking part in this walk. This road needs to be much, much safer. We need a 20mph limit along here. These children need a safer environment and so do we adults!’
Beth will also be addressing a full council meeting on the issue on Thursday 16th May. Supporters can join the facebook group Safe, Sustainable Transport Torbay to join the movement for better cycling and walking infrastructure in the bay.
Ilsham Primary School will be getting a 20mph zone and is less than 500m away, as the main cost of the creation of these zones is the TPO, Safe Sustainable Travel Torbay are asking why a larger zone couldn’t be created to include the whole of the Ilsham Road and down the length of the walk as far as the Meadfoot Beach Café.
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