Speeding drivers to face Kids Court as new 20mph zones introduced
More 20mph zones have been introduced near schools in Sandwell and those caught flouting the law could face Kids Courts.
Drivers will have to cut their speed from 30mph to 20 on Tiverton Road and Windmill Lane in Smethwick and Moat Road in Oldbury.
The measures, now in force, follow complaints over speeding traffic on the routes.
Drivers caught breaking the speed limit have been warned they will face a fine.
And Sandwell Council highways boss David Hosell said he is even working with local schools to create a Kids Court – which will see shamed drivers hauled before children to answer difficult questions about why they were breaking the speed limit.
Windmill Lane runs outside St Matthew’s C of E Primary School and parents and residents have been keen to see traffic slowed there.
It also leads onto the busy Cape Hill – one of the worst accident blackspots in the borough.
Moat Road in Oldbury is home to Our Lady and St Hubert’s Catholic Primary and the Q3 Academy.
Earlier this year a car ploughed through a front garden railings and hit a house in Tiverton Road. It was the third successive year it had happened.
Councillor Hosell said: “We have received numerous complaints about people speeding along these roads and people not caring when children are walking to schools.
"It is not a cash cow – it is to make our estate’s roads safer.
"Generally most people know not to speed when they get off the main roads and they slow down when they come onto estates where there will be elderly people and children.”
Councillor Hosell said Kids Courts were already working effectively in other areas.
“Police are stopping the people who are excessively speeding and they are given the chance on paying a fine or going in front of Kids Court. We are working with schools for this.
"A child might say to them how would you feel if you had run me over and killed me?
"I have seen hard-faced drivers go out of there in tears and would never speed again.”
