LIVES are at risk on our roads, with more than half of drivers ignoring some speed limits.

In a special Chronicle investigation, this week we took our own speed gun to three key sites around Sevenoaks.

Approaching Otford Primary School, we found nearly two-thirds of all drivers in a lunchtime sample breaking the 30mph limit.

We clocked one careless scooter rider doing 47mph.

Tony Wiltshire, chairman of the Otford Society, said: "There are mums with pushchairs walking along there and then you get people speeding past. Sometimes it's HGVs and they have to mount the pavement to get through.

"We've been running quite a serious traffic campaign ourselves and our traffic team has recorded people doing 50 or 60mph on Shoreham Road. We want to do something about it but you need seven or eight accidents in a year for the authorities to act.

"It's not just here either, all the villages suffer the same problem."

On Station Road, we caught 90 cars flouting the law: 61 per cent of the 147 vehicles which passed by.

We also monitored traffic past the temporary speed check on Seal Hollow Road, and found 51 per cent of vehicles speeding in one afternoon.

Resident Gill Checkley said: "It's fine having flashing signs up but people ignore them because they know they're not a camera."

Our survey of 160 cars near The Paddocks on Seal Hollow Road found 82 cars and vans flying past at speeds often exceeding 40mph.

That was despite the sign showing drivers' speeds as they go past.

Mrs Checkley continued: "It's a big problem along here. The signs make no difference."

We also took our speed gun to the library on London Road, Dunton Green.

Of the 54 cars we saw entering the village, where the speed limit drops to 30mph, we caught 15 driving as fast as 40mph. One female driver of a black Renault Twingo failed to slow down even as she headed towards the primary school.

In all, 28 per cent of drivers on this stretch of road broke the law.

Neighbourhood Officer PC Daryl McGrath said: "Speeding vehicles is an issue that has been raised by residents in wards across the Sevenoaks district. Residents know speed is a contributory factor in many road traffic collisions.

"In response to this the neighbourhood officers regularly carry out road checks and take action against drivers breaking the law."

Mr Wiltshire added: "We sent a petition round everyone in the Otford and by far the biggest concern was traffic.

"But there's so much bureaucracy we don't know what we can do."