Road safety concerns have prompted the setting up of a petition in a bid to impose Twenty is Plenty speeding restrictions in a major city centre thoroughfare.

Surveys conducted by the Verulam Road Residents Association showed that those living on and around the busy St Albans road found safety to be a major issue with concerns about speeding traffic.

The petition is calling for a 20mph speed limit zone which currently ends at the Brickyard pub to be extended to Folly Lane in a bid to reduce the number of domestic pet deaths and accidents and create a safer environment for pedestrians and residents.

Residents’ association chairman, Ed Suttie, who set up the petition, said: “There have been lots of near misses with cars and if you live on the road you are aware of them.

“The main problems are that there are a lot of driveways that enter onto the road and quite often visibility is poor due to parked cars.”

Ed believes that speeding on the road is related to heavy traffic coming from the city centre. He said: “They (motorists) are coming out of a fairly congested city centre and are basically putting their foot down and it’s quite a long straight road.

“It’s not just boy racers, it’s all sorts of people in a hurry that go whizzing down there and there’s been people waiting at pedestrian crossings and they don’t stop.”

The e-petition has 128 signatures so far and will end on July 9. It also suggests that relocation of signage would be cost effective and provide a safer environment for pedestrians, residents, playing field users and motorists as well as having an impact on quality of life.

For more information or to sign the Twenty is Plenty petition, click here.