Pressure on to keep making improvements at Forss straight
Campaigners are keeping up the pressure on Highland Council to fast-track safety improvements at a road accident blackspot in west Caithness.
Progress in highlighting the danger faced by residents who live along the long straight of the A836 at Forss, west of Thurso, was welcomed at last week's meeting of Dounreay Stakeholder Group (DSG).
But those spearheading the fight are keen to see results as quickly as possible to avoid future tragedies.
There have been 15 accidents on the stretch since 2012, including four fatalities.
Forss Campaign Group started up to represent locals who claim the road through their village is regularly used like a racetrack by workers returning home from a shift at Dounreay and Vulcan.
The group has welcomed the council's recent improvement to the road surface and new pavement kerbing at Forss Bridge.
Group spokesman Matthew Reiss said it has also succeeded with appeals to have the stretch covered by police speed camera vans.
"The van has been deployed once or twice on the Forss straight and we also have a cast-iron assurance that it will be deployed not just in Forss but elsewhere in the county."
He said the group is maintaining the pressure on the council to act on other items on its action list.
As well as a cut in the speed limit from 60 to 50mph, it wants double-white 'no overtaking' lines; new signage; and junction and surfacing improvements.
Mr Reiss said that earlier this week he met with council safety officers who assured him plans are being worked on.
"I don't know what the conclusions will be but they assured me that they will let us know when they have been drawn up."
He said he witnessed the scourge of anti-social driving on the straight during a recent visit.
"I very much sympathise with the residents who have the misfortune to experience the small minority of drivers carrying out high-speed overtaking manoeuvres while there are people standing at the roadside and children coming home from school."
DSG chairman Struan Mackie said: "This is an issue that has a general consensus in the community and we're hoping for a swift resolution to it."