SAFETY VICTORY AT TRAGIC CRASH SITE
Green light for pedestrian crossing on road where hit & run drug driver killed Sophie, 11
ADANGER junction yards from where a schoolgirl was tragically killed is to be made safer.
A section of Maryhill Road will get a £150,000 cash boost to allow a road crossing to be installed.
More than two years ago the area was the site of a tragic accident, in which 11-year-old Sophie Brannan lost her life.
A DANGER junction yards from where a schoolgirl was tragically killed is to be made safer.
The section of Maryhill Road at Sandbank Street will get a £150,000 cash boost to allow a road crossing to be installed.
More than two years ago the area was the site of a tragic accident, in which 11-yearold Sophie Brannan lost her life when a drug addict ploughed into her with his car.
The youngster died hours after the accident on November 14, 2014, with her friend and uncle also being injured in the crash.
Heroin addict Christopher Hannah, who was behind the wheel at the time, was given a 12-year sentence after admitting what he had done.
Since 2013, police also recorded another incident where a pedestrian was seriously injured at the same spot.
Glasgow City Council has received numerous requests about the vital safety measure by locals in Maryhill, and have now secured funding to install it.
Sandbank Street is a busy junction with a nursery yards away, and is used regularly by families and schoolchildren as well as commuters walking to catch the bus on Maryhill Road.
It joins the main thoroughfare for drivers going to and from Bearsden and Milngavie to the city centre, which is regularly packed with traffic during rush hour.
Locals had been campaigning for improvements after the council planned to remove bus passes for some school kids last year, forcing them to walk across the busy junction more often.
Councillors helped with their plight and highlighted the issue to the administration, only to be told there was no cash.
The option of securing a loan to pay for the vital safety measures was also ex- plored but was not possible.
Now Land and Environmental Services (LES) boss Davie Russell has announced the work is to go ahead after securing cash from Glasgow City Council’s Cycling, Walking and Safer Streets grant.
In a letter, Mr Russell wrote: “I am pleased to advise that a new traffic signal junction with a full pedestrian stage will be installed on Maryhill Road at Sandbank Street. I have received a number of request for improved pedestrian facilities at this location and following an investigation it has been agreed to signalise this junction and money has been secured from the Council’s Cycling, Walking and Safer Streets grant.
“Initial preparatory works have begun and the works are programmed to be complete by July 31.”
Councillor Anna Richard- son, city convener for Sustainability and Carbon Reduction, said: “We’re pleased to have been able to identify funding from our Cycling, Walking and Safer Streets grant to allow us to put in place better pedestrian facilities in the area.
“I know the community has been calling for this and having a signalised crossing in place will help make the area safer for local residents to cross the road safely.”