Speed campaigner defends ‘disgraceful’ councillor

A SPEED limit campaigner has defended a councillor who was criticised for making a comment about the death of a pedestrian.

Councillor Bailie Helen Wright was under fire after saying it took a fatality for a 20mph limit to be introduced on Johnston Avenue.

Derek Paton, who lives on the street, said the Coldside councillor was “unfairly subjected to a howl of protest” when all she had done was “convey the frustration” felt by many residents.

Ms Wright was branded “disgraceful” by SNP councillors at a city development committee meeting, when she said it had taken the death of 49-year-old Karen Lindsay, who died in a collision with a bus in November, to change the limits.

Mr Paton said: “In speaking frankly at the city development committee meeting and disclosing the stark facts of the matter Bailie Wright was unfairly subjected to a howl of protest.

“She conveyed the frustration felt by many local residents.

“During the three-year duration of the residents’ campaign, the authorities have done their best to ignore the evidence.

“I am in no doubt the antisocial, excess-speed-related driver behaviour seen on the avenue indicates it is conducive to an accident waiting to happen.

“But the authorities describe Johnston Avenue as ‘very safe’. How this view chimes with a chronic speeding problem is beyond me.

“In other words, someone has to be killed or seriously injured before enforcement action is contemplated. Bailie Wright’s declaration was not wide of the mark.”

At the city development meeting, plans to introduce a 12-month trial of 20mph speed limits in the Glens area of Dundee were approved.

Derek Paton