Concerns over safety of fatal crash junction
Dear Editor,
I refer to the article on page 7 of your edition of September 8.
While “health and safety failures” contributed to at least one of the fatalities involved, and the Police Service of Scotland has been fined - whatever good that may do - there’s no reference to what other factors may have contributed.
This is not the first fatal accident in the vicinity of the M9/M80 junction.
Negotiating it is rather less than intuitive, and the unsurprising legend has it that more than one driver has found himself on the way to Glasgow, instead of turning off the M9, to remain on the M9.
Could this have been a contributory factor?
Will Stirling Council
(sadly, no longer involved in managing and maintaining the local motorways) or the Police Service of Scotland press the Scottish Government for an answer, or will we have to wait for several more fatalities? Andrew Fraser, via email
Notspeakingforall
Dear Editor
The letter (Observer, September 15) attempting to justify the fence erected in Dunblane across a popular short cut used for years by Dunblane High and Primary School pupils and local folk needs clarification.
It is signed as ‘’Residents of Anchorscross’’ which implies all 45 or so Anchorscross residents.
That is incorrect. It represents only a tiny group who took it upon themselves to covertly erect a fence for some reason. Whether the letter was signed in that way to misinform is up to one’s own interpretation.
No Anchorscross, Culdee Grove or any other residents were consulted. All deplore the action and want the fence taken down. Hypocritically some responsible for blocking the route had no qualms about their own children using it when at school.
Those responsible claim the shortcut caused heavy school-run traffic and blocking it would stop this. The remaining Anchorscross residents have not experienced heavy traffic. No evidence to support the claim has been shown.
If traffic was a concern why was there no traffic census to confirm or deny it? Had this been done we would probably not have this problem now.
The fence’s impact has been great and widespread. High school pupils just jump over it so it has failed in its intent. School-run traffic therefore remains at the level it always was, three or four cars a day.
But sadly, we now have a scenario where mums and dads with young children who will no longer be able to use the short, 220m traffic free shortcut to the pedestrian crossing near the primary school.
Instead they will now have to face a 700m trek along two of Dunblane’s busiest roads at peak traffic time exposing children as young as four and a half to the risks from traffic and pollution.
Fortunately Stirling Council is well aware of such risks to children and has a programme to ensure school routes are safe and pollution free so we expect the council to intervene here.
Finally, to argue as the correspondent does that the old route is unsafe is, quite frankly, a gross distortion which has had the effect of stimulating even greater local pressure to have the fence removed and a proper footpath installed.
Name and address supplied