DUMFRIES and Galloway police yesterday launched the second part of
their Speedwatch Scotland campaign to reduce the number of deaths on the
region's roads.
Last year, 32 people were killed and 828 injured on the roads in
Dumfries and Galloway.
Superintendent Bill McDavid, head of the traffic department, said that
although the number of accidents has dropped by 18% this year, the
number of fatalities is running at the same level as 1991.
This is despite the first half of the Speedwatch Scotland campaign in
the region earlier this year.
During the two-week Speedwatch, which starts on Monday, extra traffic
patrols will be mounted with a high level of enforcement on targeted
areas.
The region includes three of Scotland's most notorious roads: the A74
Glasgow-Carlisle dual carriageway; the A75 Gretna-Stranraer; and the A76
Dumfries-Kilmarnock.
Superintendent McDavid said: ''The main trunk roads throughout our
area will be targeted so that a high police profile is seen by the
motoring public. In addition, identified accident blackspots, built-up
areas, and villages will be given similar attention.
''This is not a statistical gathering exercise but an opportunity
through high-profile policing to educate the irresponsible driver that
speed in the wrong place at the wrong time can have a disastrous
effect.''
Details of targeted areas are to be announced by police each day.
Meanwhile, Strathclyde Regional Council is to introduce three pilot
safety measures in the region, part of a national trial, endorsed by the
Scottish Office.
Variable speed limits -- going down to 20mph -- will be tried in three
streets with bad accident records -- Muir Street, Hamilton; Western
Road, Cambuslang; and Crosslet Road, Dumbarton.
Superintendent Colin Weir told members of the region's road safety
sub-committee that the police would be enforcing the new limits.
A pilot classroom course for older drivers is to be introduced in
association with the British Institute of Traffic Education Research. It
is expected to be held at Motherwell College.
The cost of safety lights to be worn by primary children in Argyll and
Bute is also to be subsidised by the region. The lights have a prismatic
reflector with built-in flashing diode and will be sold at #1 each.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article