Barrier call as second vehicle blown off Rest road by gales
HISTORY repeated itself at the Rest and be Thankful last Friday as a terrified motorist had her car blown off the road beside a deep loch at the same place where a tourist coach suffered a similar fate in 2015.
Reflecting on her ordeal, Maureen Johnston has called for crash barriers to be installed in the area.
The 47-year-old senior nurse was travelling back to Dunoon after a shift at a Clydebank hospital. At 2am on Friday January 13 she approached the top of the Rest and hit a blizzard.
Maureen recalled: ‘The wind kept pushing me across the road. There was no mobile signal and no other vehicles. A severe crosswind gust pushed my stationary car over the embankment. It came to rest at an angle with the wind battering my driver’s side so severely I could not open car door.
‘I jumped out the passenger door as I feared the car would roll. I crouched at the rear for shelter and hoped someone would pass.’
After around 15 minutes a gritter arrived. The driver radioed police and officers took Maureen home at 4am.
She is now calling for investment in this stretch of road.
‘I do feel it was my lucky Friday 13th,’ she said. ‘But why is there no crash barrier here given the proximity of road and Loch Restil? The A83 is, after all, the major arterial route for Argyll and the west.’
A spokesperson for BEAR Scotland said: ‘We have road signs warning of high winds at the top of the Rest and be Thankful as well as a wind gauge. However, our teams will continue to monitor the area.
‘A Met Office weather warning for high winds was in place on Thursday and Friday last week, and our teams were on high alert to deal with any issues brought in by the inclement weather. After spotting a car in difficulty early Friday morning near the Rest and be Thankful, one of our spreader drivers stopped and went to help and we’re pleased that the motorist made it home safely.
‘Trunk road safety is of the utmost importance to us and all of our routes are reviewed each year, along with our client Transport Scotland, to see if further improvements are required.’
A long-standing campaigner for improvements at the Rest is Argyll and Bute councillor Dougie Philand.
He told the Advertiser: ‘This demonstrates another danger on the road that requires investment to make right. This is now the second time this has happened and, for the safety of the travelling public, issues like this must be included in the overall investment on the road. I do believe it is clear the A83 still requires significant investment to make it a permanently safe route for Argyll and Bute.’
I feared the car would roll ”
Sir, I contacted BEAR Scotland last summer, and again recently, to support the letter in the Advertiser two weeks ago, which called for urgent action to improve the A83 at Erines.
This part of the A83 was difficult enough to drive on before the flooding, due to the width of the road. Two large vehicles passing side by side require good skill from the drivers to avoid a collision.
Since the trees were removed from the bank, the area floods more easily. Whatever the reason, for the sake of people’s safety, this situation cannot continue and the road must be widened to create a single carriageway for large vehicles to pass by safely, and to solve effectively the issue of flooding on the road. Motorists are wary of driving through flooding, due to the possible depth of the water and the damage it can do to their vehicles.
If this requires for the hillside to be blasted in a similar way to what happened in 1998 near Erines, then this should be done – even if it requires a temporary closure. Failing this, at the very least, passing places need to be created and the drainage improved but this may be difficult unless the bank can be taken away.
Plans may already be in place to improve this part of the road but can I ask for any such plans to be brought forward to be acted upon as soon as possible by the authorities? Peter Laing, Lochgilphead.