Bromley Council said their removal has saved taxpayers’ money and called claims of cars travelling at 60mph on the West Wickham road “fanciful”.
Hawes Lane resident Gary Kent set up the petition and is leading the campaign to have traffic calming measures brought onto the residential road.
Him and several of his neighbours complain of motorists speeding up and down the road that was resurfaced last year.
They say it is tempting for drivers to exceed the 30mph speed limit on the straight, wide road with its newly smooth and flat surface.
They claim they regularly see and hear “joyriders” using Hawes Lane as a place to speed.
It is also thought that Hawes Lane is used by some as a rat run to avoid traffic lights on surrounding roads.
Residents also claim the stretch where the road bends twice when it meets The Mead and Links Road is a key problem area, with speeding cars nearly crashing into front rooms as they aren’t aware a right angle bend is coming up.
Many Hawes Lane residents are part of young families, with Glebe School, Hawes Down Primary School and Riverside School West Wickham all in the immediate area.
People are scared that speeding cars could be putting their children’s lives at risk.
Cllr Nicholas Bennett JP, Bromley’s Executive member for Transport, Highways and Road Safety, explained it had been the council’s policy for many years not to replace speed humps after resurfacing because they “impede the emergency services and cause vibrations to neighbouring properties”.
He also confirmed that speed humps by the schools on Hawes Lane remained as those parts of the road did not need resurfacing.
Cllr Bennett added: “Claims by one of the organisers of the petition that cars are going at 60mph in Hawes Lane are fanciful.
“As one of the local councillors for West Wickham, I have carefully monitored the road myself and at my and the local Safer Neighbourhood Panel request, the police carried out speed checks and no vehicles were exceeding the speed limit.
“Most of Hawes Lane has no parking restrictions and parked cars provide the best form restriction on any motorist tempted to exceed the speed limit.
“Each speed hump costs around £2,000 to install and, by not reinstalling them in the four roads, the taxpayer has been saved around £60,000 enabling more roads to be resurfaced.”
Campaign leader Gary called this 60mph notion a “red herring” and said Cllr Bennett was being complacent by not dealing with the Hawes Lane problem.
Gary said: “Nobody is saying that people are routinely doing 60mph, but they’re not doing 30.
“I’m sure I’ve seen some go at 60, but by saying that he’s making us look like we’re idiots that think all cars are speeding at 60.
“We’re not saying that. One or two do, I’ve seen it, but it’s very difficult to judge [how fast a car is going] but it’s not 30, and it’s somewhere between 30 and 50.”
Fellow Hawes Lane resident Ann-Marie Butler said most of the speeding happens at night.
She said: “I am in a room at the front upstairs and sometimes you can hear them screeching round that corner.”
Ann-Marie said she regularly has to supervise her two young grandchildren crossing Hawes Lane even during the day because she fears speeding motorists.
Pamela Toomey also said that at night speeding was a particular problem, and claimed that she was pushed up on the pavement once while driving round one of the corners on Hawes Lane because another driver was speeding round the bend.
Many residents disputed Cllr Bennett’s claims that parked cars on Hawes Lane were slowing down potential speedsters.
They said that because West Wickham Leisure Centre at the northern end of Hawes Lane is temporarily closed for refurbishment, not many cars currently park on the road.
Andrew Rogers said: “Once the morning traffic stops from the schools, it does open up and because it’s a nice smooth surface; I bring my kids home and people are bombing it up there at 50 miles an hour.
“You almost wish they hadn’t resurfaced it and left it with potholes because then people would have driven slower, right? Now you’ve just given them a nice, smooth surface to go up and down there.”
Rebecca Ireland, who does not drive herself, said: “I almost don’t blame the people who are speeding. It’s too tempting to speed down this road.”
In response to Cllr Bennett’s statement that the speed hump removal was saving the taxpayer money, Pamela said of her and her fellow Hawes Lane residents: “We’re taxpayers aren’t we?” Gary added: “What is the price of one accident?”
Those living on Hawes Lane have begun to accept the fact that Bromley Council will not re-install speed humps on their road, but they hope their campaign will make the authority think about putting some traffic calming measures in place.
Their suggestions have included speed limit reminders painted on the road surface and speed indicator devices (SIDs) that flash up and tell motorists how fast they are going.
