It will take a death for Fife Council to make improvements to one of the region’s busiest road junctions, a Glenrothes councillor has claimed.
Bill Brown, representative for Glenrothes West and Kinglassie, has said lives would be saved if improvements were made to the town’s secondary link to Kirkcaldy.
More than 700 people have signed Mr Brown’s petition calling for improvements at the junction connecting the B921 Kinglassie Road and the B922 Cluny Road.
Used by thousands of drivers every day, the route is often jammed at peak times as drivers heading north queue to join the stretch between Kinglassie and Glenrothes.
With many drivers taking serious risks to exit the turn, Mr Brown has renewed his calls for the council to take action.
“It seems like we need to wait until someone dies at the junction before they will do anything,” he said.
“Thousands of people use this very popular road, connecting Kinglassie and the west of Glenrothes to the A92, the retail park and west Kirkcaldy.
“We need to be proactive and put some measures in place to prevent accidents rather than wait until serious accidents occur and then do something.
“That will be too late for the poor unfortunate families who have to deal with the consequences of accidents that could be avoided.”
The route, used by thousands of vehicles every day, is the secondary link between Glenrothes and Kirkcaldy.
However, the current T-junction leads to long delays at peak times and tempts many drivers to gamble when trying to join the B921.
Mr Brown has called for lighting columns to be placed at the junction to improve visibility in winter.
He has also called on Fife Council to examine the possibility of installing a roundabout, though costs for this could be as high as £500,000, he has been told.
Installing improved lighting would cost in the region of £20,000, it is estimated.
John Mitchell, the council’s lead professional for transport networks and travel choices, said that it would await the submission of Mr Brown’s petition before taking any action.
“This area was investigated a few years ago but no changes are planned at the moment,” he said.
“When the petition is submitted we’ll fully review it and respond appropriately.”