Ashford's controversial shared space scheme has had no injury accidents since it opened.

Kent County Council confirms it has received no reports of crashes leading to anyone being hurt on the main Elwick Square section since it opened last November 3.

The Bank Street section, which opened on August 4, has also been accident-free, despite fears that the equal-priority system for cars and pedestrians would lead to injuries.

KCC spokesman Phil Scrivener said: “We believe both drivers and pedestrians are being more careful. They are aware this sort of scheme needs a different approach.

“New figures show that people have been speeding on the shared space but the speed is going down.

The news comes despite fears of accidents, with Top Gear presenter Jeremy Clarkson last November saying that someone would be killed in a “Jaguar dance of death”.

The satirical TV show Have I Got News For You made a joke about pedestrians “rolling across the bonnets” of cars.

Figures being presented to an Ashford council meeting next Tuesday will show that 85 per cent of drivers are still going over the 20mph speed limit but now to a lesser extent.

At the end of last year it was revealed that 85 per cent of motorists were travelling at 30mph in the zone, which has a 20mph limit, but follow-up research shows that it has come down to an average of 26.15.

The statistics are to be presented to the Joint Transportation Board at Ashford Civic Centre.

The initial figures had been collated last November and the follow-up research was from last December 9 - 15.

This showed that 85 per cent of traffic was now travelling at an average 26.6mph westbound on Elwick Road between Bank Street and Church Road. The average eastbound speed was 25.7 mph.

The range of speed for this group was 25.3 to 28.4mph.

Overall the average speed in the area was 21.15mph, or 21.3 westbound and 21 eastbound.

A report by Jamie Watson, KCC project implementation manager, said: “In order not to be complacent, plans are in place to use a speed indicator device in various positions to seek to reduce speeds even further.”