The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Motorists ignoring new go-slow zones spark calls for better promotion.
Campaigners call for improved measures as some motorists ignore new limits
Drivers ignoring new 20mph limits in Perth city centre have triggered calls for better promotion of the improved safety features and a concerted campaign to encourage active travel.
The go-slow zone was introduced across 60 Fair City streets last month and extended to North Muirton at the weekend.
Perth and Kinross Council has been criticised for not doing enough to promote the new set-up and encourage safer driving.
The local Liberal Democrat group has called for education for road users to ensure cyclists and pedestrians feel safe, while local campaigners say larger 20mph signs are needed.
Perth and other towns and villages across the region are being transformed as part of a £1 million Sustrans-funded campaign to make people safer as lockdown eases.
Lib Dem councillor for Strathmore Lewis Simpson said the Tory-led administration was “asleep at the handlebars”.
“There is lots of public support for this unrivalled opportunity to embrace walking and cycling as a safe and healthy means of travel.
“Almost all local politicians are failing their constituents by ignoring the introduction of these measures and choosing to neither welcome or promote them.”
The group leader, city centre councillor Peter Barrett, said: “We urgently need political leadership and impetus behind safer streets which, is completely lacking at the present time.”
Conservative councillor Angus Forbes, the authority’s environment convener, said his administration had done more to promote sustainable and active travel than previous council leaders.
He pointed to the Sustans-funded campaign to rebuild Dunkeld Road for walkers and cyclists and said the administration had installed 113 speedactivated signs, set aside cash for 20mph trials and established a cross-party group to look at walking and cycling infrastructure.
“I even bought a bike so I could see the issues for myself,” he said.
“The Liberals have brought absolutely no ideas to the table this entire year which suggests to me that they care very little about active travel.”
A spokesman for the Perth Active Travel Hub (PATH) called for the council “to act promptly and transparently to deliver proposed measures such as 20mph limits, segregated walking and wheeling infrastructure including modal filters to improve local spaces”.