Transport Scotland has warned Fife Council against withdrawing school transport which could lead to children walking alongside a busy section of the A92.
More than 20,000 vehicles a day use a section of the trunk road passing Glenrothes where three pedestrians have been injured in the last decade, one of them fatally.
The pavement alongside the A92 from Balbirnie to Preston roundabout has been touted by Fife Council as a potential walking route to Auchmuty High School for children from the Tofthill area.
The council intends to adopt a policy for assessing availability of walking routes which could see hundreds of children who live within two miles of their secondary school or a mile of their primary school lose their bus passes.
Although routes have yet to be tested under the new policy an earlier assessment resulted in a recommendation that transport was not required for pupils in Tofthill, said to be just under two miles from Auchmuty.
Road safety manager Derek Williamson told the council that Transport Scotland had “concerns over any proposal that may increase the presence of child pedestrians along the A92 corridor”.
Mr Williamson said: “This section of the A92 corridor carries in excess of 20,000 vehicles per day.
“An interrogation of the injury accident records between Balbirnie and the Preston roundabout has also found that there have been three accidents in the last 10 years in which a pedestrian has been injured, one resulted in fatal injuries, one serious and one slight in nature.”
A Transport Scotland spokesperson said: “Whilst we appreciate Fife Council’s overall policy and aims to provide a consistency over their network, based upon the information provided, we have raised concerns over the proposal that may increase the presence of child pedestrians alongside the A92 corridor.”
Shelagh McLean, the council’s head of education and children’s services, said: “It’s vital that we have a policy for walked routes to school that is robust, consistent and fair for all school pupils across Fife.
“When agreed, our new policy will cover routes where free transport is in place because it was felt there was no appropriate route to walk.
“These routes, including the one for Tofthill pupils, will be re-assessed using the new policy as a clear guide.
“Following feedback from parents, where a walk route is along or crosses (at surface) a trunk road, the assessors will liaise with Transport Scotland as to any specific, additional requirements for consideration.”
She said routes will all be re-assessed in winter and in summer and no changes will be made to existing transport until August 2020 to give families time to adjust.
A review process will also be introduced for individual routes where an assessment is disputed and elected members will be part of that process.
