Perth and Kinross Council’s depute leader has been slammed for ruling out a speed reduction on the road where a Coupar Angus youngster was killed in a road accident.
Councillor Alan Grant has come under criticism from some residents who live in the Larghan Park area of Coupar Angus, with one man from the group claiming to be “dismayed” by his comments.
The matter has come to the fore following the death of Harlow Edwards on October 13. The two-year-old was knocked down by a vehicle in a road accident and died at the scene in Forfar Road, near Larghan Park, while her sister Dionne, 18, suffered a serious leg injury.
Her mother Sara Edwards asked for “urgent action” in the form of installing physical traffic calming measures in the east Perthshire town.
Perth and Kinross Council has confirmed it will alter road signage, install vehicle activated signs in Forfar Road and have a part-time 20mph speed limit near the local school.
However, Mr Grant said it is best not to be rushed and to take a “softly, softly approach.”
“There has been a call to install speed bumps and chicanes on this road but this is an ‘A’ class road where you have lots of heavy goods vehicles and buses using it, so this is not an option,” he said.
“I don’t think the people living in this road would be very happy if these measures were put in due to the noise these vehicles would make going over them.”
He continued: “This was a tragic accident – truly appalling — but people have to understand that we need a measured way of looking at this. Some residents are saying we should follow Fife, but while they have 20mph speed zones in residential areas they don’t have them on main roads.
“We’ll look at 20mph speed limits in specific locations but there should not be a blanket roll out as we don’t have the budget for that.”
Michael Gallagher, one of the Coupar Angus Facebook Group who are campaigning for the 20mph speed zones to be installed, claimed many parents were “dismayed” by Mr Grant’s comments.
“When he says resolutely that traffic calming measures would not be practical on Forfar Road and that Perth and Kinross Council will not introduce the same sort of road safety measures adopted by Fife Council, it feels like the local authority is fighting us rather than helping us,” he said.
“The proposals to install bigger 30mph signs and vehicle activated speed signs were just an insult. We need proper traffic calming features like they have in Fife.”
A Perth and Kinross Council spokesperson said: “The council has recently agreed a strategy on the use of 20mph speed limits in the Coupar Angus area.
“This recommends consideration of a number of factors including accident data, existing vehicle speeds, composition of road users, road environment and local community views when determining whether the introduction of a 20mph speed limit would produce the appropriate level of benefits.”
