Councils across Courier Country are being urged to protect residents as the winter weather bites.
National charity Living Streets has called on local authorities to sign up to a ”winter contract” that calls for a commitment to making pavements safe.
Each year the dangers posed by icy walkways cost the UK more than £40 million.
In 2010, as the region shivered, accident and emergency departments in Tayside saw the number of fracture patients treated almost double as pedestrians struggled with horrendous underfoot conditions.
Perth and Kinross Council, for one, has sought to innovate, introducing quad bikes for the first time this year to keep rural communities clear.
Nonetheless, Living Streets which runs an Ice Free Pavements campaign has accused some local authorities of failing to pay the same attention to gritting pavements as roads. It is now urging councils and individual councillors to show how serious they are about safety this winter.
Chief executive Tony Armstrong said: ”There is no justification for not ensuring that pavements are given the same priority as roads and are gritted and kept as ice-free as possible.
”The healthcare costs associated with falls doesn’t stop with emergency admissions. The implications of a fall for an older person can be more far-reaching and permanent.
”Along with their mobility, they may lose their independence and have to go into residential care, heaping additional and unnecessary cost on to Scotland’s health bill.”
The ”winter contract” calls on councils to prepare severe weather plans, a list of volunteers who can be activated to keep streets clear and redeploy council staff to help clear pavements where they are unable to carry out their work due to the weather.
In particular, it asks councils to give special consideration to walking routes used by the most vulnerable members of communities, such as children and the elderly.
It has been live online for some weeks but, with interest from just one Scottish councillor to date West Lothian member Alex Davidson the charity has issued a direct appeal to local authorities.
But residents and businesses are also being urged to do their bit by helping to clear pavements around their properties.
The plea comes as Scotland braces itself, with sunny spells set to give way to an arctic blast. Plummeting overnight temperatures, coupled with sleet and rain, are already playing havoc with roads and pavements.
For more information on Living Streets’ campaign, visit livingstreets.org.uk/icy.