Anger over 'deathtrap' road conditions in Caithness
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ANGRY residents in Lybster are claiming theirs is among a number of Caithness villages being ignored by gritters when icy conditions prove treacherous to pedestrians and motorists.
Their discontent about a lack of action was intensified after a delivery van slid off the village’s busiest street and demolished a wall yesterday morning. It came on one of the first days of the winter when freezing conditions proved particularly hazardous.
Now calls are being made for Highland Council to make greater efforts to treat rural villages to prevent further accidents occurring.
Yesterday’s accident involved a delivery van carrying newspapers skidding on Lybster’s Main Street and careering into a wall near the village football club’s pavilion about 6.30am. The driver was uninjured but was said to have been left shaken by the mishap.
Main Street resident Marshall Bowman said that the crash was an accident waiting to happen.
He said that since Wednesday, pavements and roads have proven to be a ‘death trap’ in the village and that nothing has been done to combat the problem.
"The roads have been brutal for the last two days and the village is in a perilous state until well after 11am as there has hardly been any gritting and Main Street has not been touched," said the retired Wick High school teacher.
"Harbour Road is also a sheet of ice and is extremely dangerous for anyone walking or driving. Kids were skating their way to school and clinging on to walls to keep the grip. People preferred to walk on the road as the pavements were in a far worse condition."
His views were echoed by Duncan Winfield who runs the post office in the village. He said that he spoke to a large amount of customers who have either slipped or struggled to negotiate their way through Main Street due to untreated pavements.
"Some customers told me that they almost fell over as soon as they walked out their door," said Mr Winfield, of Greys Place, Lybster.
"I could understand if these incidents were happening on small side streets but it’s taking place on Main Street and in the area where the majority of the population live.
"The main crossroads beside the Portland Arms Hotel have also seen cars struggle for grip – the worst thing about it is that this has happened for two consecutive days."
Police also attended an accident on Wednesday morning when a car slewed off the road at Mid Clyth. The driver was uninjured.
Landward Caithness councillor Willie Mackay was also a victim of the icy conditions when his van slid near Rumster on Thursday morning, though he escaped unscathed.
He appreciated that the main roads in Caithness should get priority but claimed that main streets in villages and towns need to be treated by daylight at the earliest.
"I have heard reports of people struggling to walk on the streets in Lybster and it is becoming a worry for people in the village.
"There needs to be a greater effort to grit roads earlier than they have been and especially by daylight in the busiest places.
"During the rush-hour everybody is prone to the dangers of icy conditions. The main lorries are out by 6am on the main road but more needs to be done to treat roads quicker."
Stuart Bell, the council’s community works manager, said the local authority is operating the same level of service as previous years and that Lybster is also receiving the same service.
He said that there are 10 lorries covering 10 routes at 6am every morning.
"There has been the problem of showers and there is not a lot you can do when you have conditions like this," he said.
"Lybster got the same treatment as it always does. When ice happens somewhere it happens almost everywhere and Thurso was the only place in Caithness that did not have ice yesterday.
"The east coast has been affected badly and yesterday was a black ice morning. It was not the first we’ve had this year and it won’t be the last but there has been no restriction to our services and we are doing what we can to treat roads and pavements."
