Published: Wednesday, 5th November, 2008 09:00
Police to curb A7 smashes
By Alexa Brown
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POLICE are set to carry out extra patrols on the area’s most dangerous roads in an attempt to cut the number of accidents in the blackspots.
It comes as official figures revealed there have been 21 smashes on the A7 road from Galashiels to Heriot, one of the Borders’ most notorious stretches, in the last year.
And research by Lothian and Borders Police has found that young, male drivers are the most likely to be involved in an accident on the road.
Inspector Richard Latto of the Road Policing Branch said: “We have done a lot of research into accidents on the A7 road and the vast majority of them are down to driver error, particularly amongst young, male drivers.
“We also found that Thursday and Friday afternoons and evenings are when the majority of collisions happen.
“We will be increasing patrols on the A7, A72 and A68 roads at these times to try to encourage drivers to watch their speed on these difficult parts of the roads.”
The move has been welcomed by Galashiels Councillor Sandy Aitchison, who has been campaigning for stricter speed limits on the A7 north of Stow.
He said: “The extra patrols are definitely a step forward but there needs to be more done in terms of speed limits and encouraging heavy goods vehicles to stop frequently to let other vehicles past.
“We have a situation at Gala bank where there have been three accidents in the past month. The area between Gala and Fala Hill is lethal and anyone who gets onto that road is taking their life in their hands.
“Anything that increases safety on that road has to be applauded.”
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