Bike call as Glasgow tops collision hotspot league

ROADS in and around Glasgow have featured more than any other area in a list of Scotland’s collision hotspots.

A travel campaign group compiled figures of the number of collisions compared to the amount of cycling activity on roads throughout the country.

Out of 20, the Glasgow hotspots featured by Sustrans Scotland were the Pollok roundabout, Cathedral Street and Springhill Parkway both on the A8.

Five more roads in areas in the Glasgow area were also named in the list.

These were Arkleston Road in Paisley, the Parkway roundabout near Erskine, Mearns Road in Clarkston, the Spiersbridge roundabout in Thornliebank and the Starlaw Road/ Boghall roundabout in Bathgate.

The findings come as Sustrans Scotland called for more cycling infrastructure to be put in place.

The campaign group said collisions and ac- cidents would be less likely to happen if more infrastructure is put in place.

John Lauder, the national director of the campaign group said: “Safety is often cited as the main reason why people don’t cycle for more of the journeys they make every day.

“This research highlights the importance of having high quality cycling infrastructure in place at junctions, so that collisions can be prevented.

“We know that better cycle infrastructure increases the feeling of safety and ultimately the number of people on bikes.

Roundabouts appeared frequently, in eight of the 20 hotspot locations, while seven of the locations were at T or staggered junctions.

Roads in Edinburgh and Stirling were also identified.

Out of the top 20 ranked locations for cycle collisions in Scotland, the research found that 19 of the incidents occurred at a junction or within 20 metres of one.