A Fairlie community councillor has said action needs to be taken at the traffic lights in the village before somebody is killed.
Concerns have once again been raised by villagers that drivers are continuing to jump the red light on the A78, and fears were expressed at Monday’s community council meeting that cars coming out of The Causeway junction could be involved in a crash.
Former chairman David Telford said the problem had been going on for months, and described it as a ‘menace’, adding that something had to be done about it before ‘somebody was killed’.
Chairman Rita Holmes admitted that when she drives out of The Causeway in her car, she comes out very slowly as she is fearful that a car may have jumped the red lights.
Asked about what could be done, PC Dominic Murphy said that the public should report anyone who jumps the red lights to the police with a registration plate number of the said vehicle.
But resident John Riddell replied: “The last thing you are concerned about if you have been involved in a close miss is trying to get a registration plate number as the car is probably away, the question remains - what is going to be done about this problem?”
PC Murphy stated that the police could give the area extra coverage, and that it was wrong that people should be nervous coming out of The Causeway onto the A78 for fear of a collision.
Concerns were also raised at the meeting that the nature of the speed operated traffic lights, which were introduced as a trial three years ago to try and reduce speed in the village, were not effective with drivers still speeding, and attempting to get through the lights at all costs. Cars which exceed 30mph trigger sensors which convert the traffic lights to red.
Mr Riddell asked if the police could not track back the information if a speeding car was spotted going through the lights just by its description if the time was given, and the matter was checked with Transport Scotland, who operate the lights.
PC Murphy said he would look into the matter. Conservative councillor Tom Marshall suggested that one solution would be to provide red light cameras which could record such incidents.
PC Murphy responded that it was likely that Transport Scotland would want to know figures of speeding issues in the village before agreeing to such a move.
David Telford said he thought it would be a good deterrent, and Fairlie Community Council agreed to write to Transport Scotland to outline their concerns and to support the move to introduce a red light camera at the crossing.