Calls for speed limit
A local resident has called on Aberdeenshire Council to act upon a petition to set the speed limit at Buchan Road to 20 miles per hour, a petition that has accumulated just under 200 signatures since summer, last year.
Bruce Farquhar, who lives in the area, told the Fraserburgh Herald that he often sees cars struggling to make their way through the congested street, adding that the road had become increasingly dangerous for people attempting to cross the street.
Speaking to the Fraserburgh Herald last summer, Mr Farquhar said:
“The volume of traffic on Buchan Road in the morning before college is horrendous. One morning while I was waiting for the school bus I counted 164 cars between 8:30am and 8:50am.
“Taking into consideration that the college is not operating at full capacity at the minute, the problem is only going to get worse. That coupled with the amount of cars that are parked at the side of the road makes it extremely hazardous for children to cross the road safely and catch the bus to take them to school.
“One child was already knocked down in the area some time ago and, as far as I am aware, the driver was never found.”
Told that a solution to this problem would be looked into by Aberdeenshire Council, Mr Farquhar has yet to see any improvement on the road since he first started to campaign.
Local councillors Michael Watt and Brian Topping have both publicly supported Mr Farquhar’s efforts, both stressing that the fixing the situation on Buchan Road was of crucial importance for the safety of children in the area.
Aberdeenshire Council’s Alan Burns, who contacted Mr Farquhar last year, said that a permanent solution to the problem would hopefully be in place by August, 2011.
Mr Burns has, however, since switched departments and is no longer involved in the matter.
Mr Burns said that before he left “surveys were done of the area . . . but the speed limit could not be reduced.”
“Speed was not an issue,” said Mr burns, adding that Mr Farquhar’s original concern was that children were finding it difficult to cross the road.
As a result, Aberdeenshire Council looked to install a crossing warden in the area, rather than reducing the 30 miles per hour speed limit to 20.
The roads department told the Fraserburgh Herald that they had surveyed the roads on behalf of the education department to find if the traffic at Buchan Road warranted a crossing warden, but said that the count did not come anywhere near the numbers needed for a warden to be installed.
Councillor Brian Topping, responding to the news, said:
“I am certainly disappointed with the decision. To me, there is a lot of traffic congestion on the road and I am concerned about the safety aspect of that.
“This is the same issue as on Gallowhill Road, where crossing the road is difficult.
“This leads to parents driving their kids to school over safety concerns and adds to the traffic congestion”, he added.
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Thursday 24 May 2012
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