Transport Scotland today, 25th October, revealed that it is to impose reduced speed limits on 44 sections of road across Scotland – places which have a poor – but not always the worst – accident record.
This ‘plan’ is fully in line with Transport Scotland’s history of decision taking erratically adrift from reason and logic.
Scotland’s most dangerous road, the Perth to Inverness A9 – is being left with its speed limits unamended, even though its accident record is bad and sections of changing from dual to single carriageway and back are known black spots.
Other sections of road from short to 12 mile sections are having their speed limits cut by 10-20 mph, although other sections that Transport Scotland itself admits could have their limits raised are being left alone.
This is yet another inconsistency, a characteristic of the proposed changes remarked upon as unhelpful by several of the country’s senior motoring organisations, like the Institute of Advanced Motorists quoted as saying that study results are not being properly implemented.
In terms of Argyll, the A83 along Loch Fyneside, between Ardrishaig and Tarbert, is to come down from 60 to 50mph.
This includes a narrow section known as The Erinnes, wending between the foreshore below and a rock wall above – which has previously dumped tons of itself on the road, closing it for substantial amounts of time and leaving Campbeltown in Kintyre virtually cut off.
This is one of the troubled sections of the A83 identified in a vigorous and successful campaign – Sign for the A83 – led by the Argyll First group of Councillors who are part of the current coalition administration of Argyll and Bute Council.
The Sign for the A83 campaign led to Argyll-wide support across industrial, business and domestic road users and a petition in progress at the Scottish Parliament’s Public Petitions Committee.
The objectives of the campaign and the petition included:
- getting a permanent solution to the landslide prone A83 identified and scheduled;
- getting ‘pinch points’ on the A83 addressed – one of them at The Erinnes between Ardrishaig and Tarbert;
- getting this illogically half-and-half road trunked all the way to Campbeltown in Kintyre.
In response to the pressure created by this campaign – which has a killer card up its sleeve if Transport Scotland fail to deliver – Transport Scotland commissioned a report on the A83, including these specific matters, from consultants, Jacobs.
This report is not yet complete but its commissioning authority has made its conclusions redundant before they are either reached or known.
Nothing could illustrate more clearly the lack of integrity in Transport Scotland’s use of commissioned studies. There is not even an attempt to cut the grass verges first, to disguise the formulaic intention to use the consultants’ report to dump the A83 issue in the long stuff.
The imposed solution to the pinch point at The Erinnes is simply to reduce the speed of the traffic going through it.
Quite how this makes that section less of a pinch point rather than more of one defies logic.
This is THE major arterial road in and out of Argyll, running through it all the way from its most easterly area right to the west coast and down to is most southerly town.
This is a TRUNK road at the point where speed is now to be reduced to 50mph, pinching traffic more determinedly.
There are two conjoined interpretations of Transport Scotland’s wheeze, neither of which do it any credit and together insult and abuse road users.
- It’s cheaper to reduce speeds than to maintain and upgrade inadequate sections of road.
- Reducing the speed limit could be an even nicer little earner than before for Scotland’s new unitary police force, born into a £70 million budget deficit.
This is a win/win for a banana republic.
It is, however, a big time defeat for a country that above all things, needs its infrastructure brought up to fitness to support its desperation for growth.
In our view it is not the business of a transport department to deal with speed limits. It’s job is to provide roads that are fit for purpose and Transport Scotland is failing on that core responsibility.
Decisions on speed limits should be a matter for the Police Traffic Division where the relevant expertise exists.
Madness; reduction of speed limits is likely to increase accidents as frustrated motorists attempt to pass ‘slowcoaches’, not reduce collisions.
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It is debatable whether the A9 is “Scotland’s most dangerous road”. That is just a headline in the papers prompted by the Inverness lobby who seem to want a motorway to Inverness. they usually use figures for the whole length of the A9 which being a long road tends to mave more accidents than shorter ones. When you look at the normal figures for accidents per mile or per x vehicles then it is similar to many other roads. One year it might have a higher rate and another year lower.
Whenever I use the A9 I am struck by what a good road it is compared with the A82.
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It is persuasive to see this is a headline ‘fact’ but it has been a remarkably persistent headline over the decades – so that alone must makes it a reasonable focal point in the safety of our roads.
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This is 2009 from a written answer in the Edinburgh Parliament
2009
Injury Road Accidents Fatalities
Road Number of Injury Road Accidents per km of road Road Number of Road Accident Fatalities per km of road
A8 204 2.58 B9080 3 0.23
M8 185 2.11 A977 3 0.11
M74 87 1.66 M74 5 0.10
A726 74 1.52 A199 3 0.07
A89 83 1.40 M8 5 0.06
A814 90 1.36 A76 4 0.04
A90 262 1.08 A835 4 0.04
A71 108 0.97 A90 9 0.04
A77 130 0.86 A75 5 0.03
A1 76 0.85 A95 3 0.03
A7 110 0.83 A78 2 0.03
A82 198 0.73 A77 4 0.03
A92 107 0.72 A70 3 0.02
A96 106 0.63 A96 4 0.02
A68 61 0.62 A7 3 0.02
A70 68 0.56 A82 6 0.02
A85 84 0.55 A68 2 0.02
A702 73 0.55 A93 3 0.02
A93 86 0.49 A9 7 0.02
A9 207 0.47 A702 2 0.02
It varies from year to year, in 2005 the A85 had five times as many fatalities per km as the A9. But being a long road it has more accidents overall which is the figure used by campaigners wanting all the money spent on making the A9 dual carriageway for the whole length to Inverness from Perth.
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Speed limits on the A83 are a very sensitive issue in Mid Argyll.
Between Ardrishaig and Lochgilphead, flanked by houses for much of the distance, it’s 40.
On the other side of Lochgilphead it’s only 30 as far as the Kilmory roundabout.
Although there are only a couple of accesses on this stretch, one of them is to the school campus, and at that point there’s a 20 limit during schooldays at morning, lunch and afternoon, controlled by flashing lights that didn’t work properly for the first couple of years after the campus was opened.
It appears that wherever there’s a part-time 20 limit the prevailing limit has to be no more than 30 – otherwise the sensible limit here would be no slower than 40.
I’m told that the flashing 20 signs are standard at school entrances on busy roads, but at Lochgilphead there’s a separate path to the town and only cars and buses use this entrance.
Of course the 30 limit, signage for which is conspicuous by its inadequacy (none of the usual reminders on lamp posts), provides the local traffic police with a happy hunting ground – especially on sunday afternoons, when turning traffic tends to be zero (matching the justification for the 30 limit).
With regard to the A83 between Ardrishaig and Tarbert, the road south of Stronachullin traverses some bends with such poor visibility that it’s a wonder that the occasional cyclist can survive, and on this substandard stretch – like the narrows at Erines – a speed limit is justified, however unwelome.
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There is some evidence of the numbers of accidents can increase in 20 mph zones.
Portsmouth introduced a blanket 20 mph speed limit
“TfL has also expressed concerns, saying the number of accidents increased after a similar 20mph limit was introduced in Portsmouth.”
“However, an analysis of the UK’s first city-wide scheme – in which the limit was lowered from 30mph to 20mph on all residential streets in Portsmouth, at a cost of £500,000 – found that it has not brought any significant reduction in the number of accidents.
The number of people killed or seriously injured on affected roads actually went up, not down, after the limit was lowered. “
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Why not require all motor vehicles to have a man , or would that be person nowadays walk with a red flag in front of them ?
Seriously ,this is disgraceful news . What Kintyre needs to attract more visitors is a SHORTER journey time from Central Scotland and road improvements not more restrictions and a longer journey . Other areas may be progressing in terms of the road network but this area is heading back to the dark ages with a further decline in population the likely outcome .
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Whilst A83 must be addressed properly, thinking a little wider, the A85 from Taynuilt to Oban is coming down to 50mph. Already known as the longest 12 miles – especially when you’re heading for a ferry and have been held up much further back down the road (and there are more 50mph stretches coming in to add to any untoward delays) – this is, I suspect, going to cause more trouble than at present.
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Was your sub-concious (never could spell this one correctly!) working here Jade? “Whilst A83 must be addressed properly, thinking a little wider,” – that’s exactly what we need – a wider A83 at Erines!
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I don’t think there would be much of a fuss is about imposing a 50 mph limit on the stretch at Erinnes. The nature of the road makes the sensible driver reduce speed there anyway. But there is no sense or logic in making the whole stretch from Ardrishaig to Tarbert 50 mph.
As for the concern expressed by ‘Islay for ever’ that tourists should be able to drive faster, I just wish they would. There is nothing worse than coming up behind a tourist/visitor (and the occasional ‘local’) toddling along at 40 mph, less on the bends, when you have a long, long journey ahead of you. That’s when frustration leads to risk-taking on the few stretches where overtaking is possible.
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“I don’t think there would be much of a fuss is about imposing a 50 mph limit on the stretch at Erinnes. The nature of the road makes the sensible driver reduce speed there anyway. But there is no sense or logic in making the whole stretch from Ardrishaig to Tarbert 50 mph.”
That’s often the point, the sensible driver would reduce speed and the ones who are not sensible won’t whether or not there is a speed limit. So why go to the expense of changing the speed limit.
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Because then hopefully the police will concentrate more on the people who drive far too fast south of Stronachullin than on the people who drive out of Lochgilphead at more than 30 on sunday afternoons.
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