Street security measures will proceed to be pushed ahead after the variety of collisions nearly doubled in Dumfries and Galloway over the previous 12 months.
Scottish Fireplace and Rescue Service (SFRS), which leads Dumfries and Galloway Street Security Partnership, confirmed that there 97 street site visitors accidents throughout the area in 2021/22 – in comparison with 51 in the course of the earlier 12 months.
Casualty numbers from these accidents additionally rose from 42 in 2020/21 to 70 in 2021/22.
Breaking down these stats domestically, the best variety of street collisions final yr had been 23 in Annandale North, whereas Annandale East and Eskdale was subsequent with 18.
The matter was mentioned at Dumfries and Galloway Council’s police, hearth and rescue sub committee final week, the place councillors quizzed Craig McGoldrick, an area senior officers with the SFRS.
Mid and Higher Nithsdale Councillor Tony Berretti mentioned: “Clearly we don’t need street site visitors accidents, and also you don’t need to go to them. I’ve seen too lots of them in my lifetime.
“Is that this, in your opinion, attributable to roads, coaching, age, situations? Have you ever mentioned it with different businesses to take a look at different methods of mitigating these, not simply in these two areas however throughout the entire area?”
Mr McGoldrick replied: “It’s some of the apparent impacts we’ve seen since we began to return out of Covid.
“When you concentrate on the restrictions we lived in, the actions on the street had been actually lowered.
“While you lay that within the context of our personal geography, the explanation that Annandale and Eskdale tends to face out is mostly attributed to the M74 and the excessive volumes of site visitors.
“So, the variety of accidents that occur there are usually not essentially associated to our communities or people who stay inside them. It’s the transient driver that’s a threat aswell.
“Sure, it's nearly a doubling of incidents over that 12 month interval from the earlier.”
Referring to the report, he added: “It perhaps isn’t straightforward to learn from the preliminary graphs on the high of the web page however hopefully you see that, throughout the five-year common, it’s most likely the place we now have been.
“This doesn’t imply we must always relaxation on our laurels. We should always completely begin to drive and be certain that our street security partnership is the mechanism the place we’re decreasing that.”
The hearth companies, in partnership with different our bodies together with the police and ferry companies, launched a particular programme to enhance street security main as much as the North West 200 final month.
This annual motorcycling occasion in Eire noticed 1000's of motorbikes journey by way of Dumfries and Galloway en route throughout the water.
“We had been in a position to have interaction with the very best a part of 1,000 motorcyclists,” mentioned the hearth officer. “It’s that kind of strategy we’d wish to construct upon.”
The Street Security Partnership additionally launched a cellular app ‘Journey Protected D&G’ in February 2022, having obtained £10,000 in funding from the Scottish Authorities.