Accident fears are justified - protestors
P6 pupil knocked down
The human cost of road traffic accidents on Gilbertfield Road were highlighted this week, campaigners say, when a young boy was knocked down.
The P6 pupil from Cairns Primary School was struck by a car at approximately 3pm on Tuesday, March 8, in Woodlands Crescent, yards from the adjacent Gilbertfield Road.
An ambulance attended the scene and the boy was treated for bruising. Although he made a speedy recovery and returned to school two days later, people behind the Save Gilbertfield campaign group say the road accident is an indication of what could come if a 437-house development is given the green light.
Protestors have long argued the number of vehicles associated with a development of that scale, will lead to more accidents happening on an already busy road network.
Stephen Towill, who is leading the fight against the Persimmon Homes planning application, says there have been two traffic accidents in five weeks on and around Gilbertfield Road.
He said: “This is reflective of the increase in traffic in the area and really it highlights again the fact that if the developers do build more houses it will only increase the risk of accidents occurring.
“We are against building at all there because the area’s infrastructure can’t sustain a development of that size. These incidents reflect that the roads aren’t good enough and traffic will only increase the more they develop in these areas.”
He a d of South Lanarkshire Council’s roads and transportation services, Gordon Mackay, said there had been no injury accidents recorded at Woodlands Crescent for at least 10 years prior to the school boy being knocked down.
He said: “Incidents such as this involving school children are, thankfully, rare in the South Lanarkshire area.”
“In addition, Woodland C re s c e nt and the surrounding streets are subject to the council’s Twenty’s Plenty advisory 20mph initiative.
“We have also been working with both schools to distribute road safety materials and to develop school travel plans.
“Such schemes have contributed positively to road safety.”
An earlier road accident on February 3 saw a 28- year- old man and woman aged 29, injured when their Vauxhall Astra collided with a tree on Gilbertfield Road.
Doug Law, managing director at Persimmon Homes West Scotland, said: “Part of our planning application will include an independent traffic impact assessment that will highlight any off-site improvements required to support the residential development.”