A study from the Department for Transport has revealed that Kent is the worst rated county for road accidents in the country.
New data has shown Kent had just under 3500 crashes in 2022, nearly 10 every day, Surrey was the closest, with 2700.
Kent County Council say: “Our professional highway teams work all year round to identify and repair our road network.”
A tyre specialist from Crossstreet tires in Gillingham, who wished to remain anonymous due to complications with local gangs said:
“London’s the worst, the roads are 20 miles per hour or 30 miles per hour with cameras everywhere, but the road condition is far better and there’s not as many potholes or anything”
He’s not the only one who is aware of the poor standard of driving in the county.
But more people believe that it is the fault of Kent drivers, with some commenting on local news sites that the European traffic adds extra strain on roads.
A manager at MC Personnel, a bus transport service that provides travel across Kent, who had experienced Kent roads for himself says:
“It is bad, we don’t think the accident rate is too bad but it’s the standard of driving, no one has got any time for anybody, they’re aggressive and they don’t obey the road laws a lot the time, testing is okay but I do think people, if they’re found to be in an agressive manner there might need to be retraining.”
He mentions the need for extra training for particularly poor drivers, the last reform we saw to the prosecution of drivers was in 2023, when certain local councils were given the authority to penalise drivers for moving traffic offences, like driving in a bus lane or stopping in a yellow box junction.