HALF of all vehicles travelling up West Alvington Hill were found to be over the speed limit after a speed survey.

Kingsbridge Town Council requested a speed survey be conducted by Devon County Council on the A379, West Alvington Hill, and called the results ‘revealing’.

A spokesman for the town council said: ‘Almost 50 per cent of all vehicles travelling uphill towards West Alvington were driving in excess of the 30mph limit and 25 per cent driving downhill into Kingsbridge were going too fast.

‘So that’s one in every two motorists driving up the hill today are breaking the speed limit, breaking the law, and potentially endangering the lives of students navigating the zebra crossing to and from Kingsbridge Community College.’

The Department for Transport statistics report that if a pedestrian is hit by a car at 30mph there is a one in five chance of being killed. At 35mph this increases to a 50/50 chance but if you’re struck at 40mph there’s a nine in 10 chance of being killed. The spokesman added: ‘To put this into perspective, the top speed recorded during the survey was in excess of 55mph.

‘The message is simple: the difference of a few miles per hour can mean the difference between life and death. The faster someone is driving, the less time they have to react and stop if something unexpected happens, and higher speed dramatically increases a vehicle’s stopping distance. Indeed, the various speed limits in and around Kingsbridge are the absolute maximum and it doesn’t mean it’s safe to drive at such speed in all conditions.

‘As the nights get longer and the weather deteriorates, Kingsbridge Town Council is strongly appealing to all drivers to take extra care and to keep within the speed limit.’