Residents catch 1,000 'speeding' drivers, they say

Residents in south-east London have said the authorities have done nothing to stop speeding cars despite sending police more than a thousand reports of vehicles breaking the limit.

People living on Siward Road and Godwin Road near Bromley town centre said drivers use their roads as short cuts.

The residents said there were eight accidents there between 2024 and 2025, including a pedestrian being knocked over, and want traffic calming measures such as chicanes, road narrowing and planters to be installed.

The Met Police said traffic calming was a council responsibility, but Bromley Council said those roads were not a priority for further action as no one has been injured in collisions recently.

Husband and wife Susannah and Donald Miller have described living on Godwin Road as "a nightmare".

They say they first raised their concerns to Bromley Council in 2019 and soon afterwards, a speed activated sign was installed, although residents said this had little effect.

They have since reported about 1,000 vehicles that appeared to be obviously speeding to the police, including their registration details.

To gather more detailed data, they bought a speed gun to monitor traffic in 2024.

Of 979 vehicles, 40% of drivers were found to have exceeded the 30 mph speed limit, the Millers said.

One driver was even caught travelling at 75mph.

According to radar data gathered from 979 vehicles, 40% of drivers exceeded the 30 mph speed limit, the Millers said.

Ms Miller told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS): "It's unimaginable really, but it talks to the wider problem that we've got with people not seeing speeding as a real crime.

"We need to make speeding socially unacceptable, the same way that drink-driving and not wearing a seatbelt is absolutely unacceptable."

Another Godwin Road resident Becky Candy said: "We've got lots of kids on both our roads, and animals and elderly people, as well as crossings and blind spots.

"All it takes is one person out there and it's a serious accident."

Nicholas Bennett, Bromley's councillor for transport, highways and road safety, said there were "over 60 locations across the borough in our priority list".

He added that finite funding from Transport for London (TfL) meant they must prioritise any action on the basis of evidence of known accident blackspots.

"Looking at Siward and Godwin Roads, there have been no recorded injury collisions in the three years to June 2025 and therefore our focus will be elsewhere."

A Met Police spokesperson said officers had conducted regular speed-enforcement checks on Siward Road and Godwin Road and have used speed guns in the area.

"We'll continue to work to improve road safety in partnership with the council, which is responsible for physical interventions like road signs and traffic calming measures," the spokesperson added.

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