Urgent review of Castletown road crossing is needed, according to councillors and campaign group
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Calls have been made for an urgent review of a newly installed road crossing in a Caithness village.
The narrowed crossing point in Castletown was put in by Highland Council after concerns were raised over the safety of children and parents trying to reach the play park opposite.
Castletown and District Community Council had raised concerns over the plans at an early stage and wanted to see speed bumps and other measures instead.
Now the narrowed street has come in for further criticism after a number of bumps and near misses at the location in Main Street.
Thurso and Northwest Caithness Highland councillor, Matthew Reiss, said: "This must be looked at again. I have had concerns about this crossing from the start and feel it it is not the right solution to the problem."
He said there have been accidents at the crossing on Main Street with the bollards being knocked over on a couple of occasions but the most serious incident was when a car skidded off the road and went on to the pavement last winter shortly after the facility was installed.
"That was the most dangerous one and had anyone been on the pavement at the time it could have been very serious indeed," he stated.
Councillor Reiss claimed pedestrians, especially youngsters and the visually impaired, are being put at increased risk as they have to stand closer to the traffic to cross the road due to the design of the crossing.
"They should feel safer there but they don't. There are concerns about its safety and the evidence is compelling," he said.
Councillor Reiss would prefer a pelican crossing to be installed, similar to the one at Watten. "It seems to have worked well there and, personally, I think there is more traffic going through Castletown than Watten," he added. Councillor Reiss has contacted Highland Council but has had no reply yet.
Billy Dunbar, the chairman of the Castletown and District Community Council, backed the call for an urgent review of the crossing.
He and his colleagues are in favour of safety measures but opposed the crossing on the Main Street as it narrows sections of the road near the play park and claim it could cause problems for emergency services, lorries and farm vehicles.
Mr Dunbar said a pelican crossing would have been a better solution although he would back the installation of rumble strips or speed bumps to slow down the traffic. He would also like to see measures to deter speeding drivers at the Thurso, Wick and Dunnet entrances to the village.
Caithness committee chairman and local Highland councillor, Ron Gunn, has highlighted his concerns to the local authority's roads department.
"I would prefer some kind of crossing where the traffic has to stop. The signage and road markings could be better, too. There have been some accidents and near misses at the crossing.
"The 20mph speed limit should be coming in quite soon and that will slow vehicles down but will not stop them. There needs to be something to stop the traffic to let pedestrians cross the road safely," he said.
Iain Gregory, co-founder of Caithness Roads Recovery (CRR) and a former senior police officer, said without "urgent action" more accidents "are almost inevitable".
He said that on the CRR website there have been numerous comments from people who have had to take evasive action to avoid an accident while others described the crossing as "dangerous". He has called for "a far safer crossing be installed".
Highland Council was contacted for a comment but has not responded. It previously said the traffic volumes in that part of Main Street do not meet the requirements for a formal controlled crossing.
