Golf club makes safety moves after tragic death of boy, 11
One of Edinburgh’s top golf clubs is taking measures to increase safety after the tragic death of a primary school pupil on a nearby road.
Thomas Wong, 11, died after he was struck by a bin lorry in Whitehouse Road in Barnton as he cycled to Cramond Primary School. The collision occurred on March 1 as the bin lorry exited from the car park of the world’s oldest golf club, the Royal Burgess Golf Club (RBGC), onto the main road.
RBGC has now removed a large hedge in a bid to increase visibility at the exit from its car park in the first of several measures to be implemented following completion last weekend of a police reconstruction at the scene of the accident.
The golf club, which is looking at improved signage and speed measures, has also requested that waste collections and other HGV operations avoid times when children are travelling to and from school.
Graham Callander, general manager of the RBGC, said: “We are actively working with both the police and local council and whatever recommendations they have we will actively work with them to put in place as soon as possible.
“The first [recommendation] was to trim back the hedge to give a little bit more visibility coming out of the car park and we decided it was more significant to take it down entirely.
“We have asked the contractors to try and avoid coming to us during peak times, and we are looking at other measures as well. Anything we can do to make it safer we are happy to comply.”
Edinburgh councillors have vowed to do everything possible to prevent a repeat of the tragedy, and Lib Dem councillor Kevin Lang, who represents the area, recently outlined changes that could be made in an update to locals. In addition to the removal of the hedge at the exit of the golf club to improve sightlines, improved signage is expected, including new painted stop road markings and stop signage on existing sign poles.
Speed humps are to be installed to reduce vehicle speeds on exit, while road officers are also looking at installing “tactile mats” at either side of the exit and making it a continuous footway to show pedestrians have right of way, with temporary signage in the interim.