Residents of Lochmaben are demanding action after the results of a traffic counter which was positioned on Lockerbie Road at end of June this year have shown that an average of 2,773 vehicles were passing at speeds over 31mph every day.
The results come after repeated calls from the Community Council and residents for Dumfries and Galloway Council and the Police to take action on vehicles that are persistently speeding through the Town. Only last year a similar investigate was carried out by the Council which showed that there was high levels of speeding through the town.
The results highlight that on an hourly basis a minimum of 10 vehicles are speeding through the town including the very early hours of the morning. The speed cables were placed outside the residential property of Lynnhurst on Lockerbie Road.
A second traffic counter was situated at the A709 near Lochmaben Hospital but the Council has said that this was not connected properly so failed to generate any results.
Local Councillor Adam Wilson commented, “The results of this investigation only confirm what the residents of Lochmaben know all too well – there are too many speeding vehicles passing through our town. Every speeding vehicle that passes through puts other road users and pedestrians at risk of serious injury or fatality. Council Officers will be quick to point to the fact that the average speed recorded was 30.3 mph but this is purely a play on numbers. The Council must now seriously consider how to implement measures to reduce this and work with the local community to make the A709 through Lochmaben much safer. Measures need to implement quickly and will involve working with external agencies.
Tony Hancock, Vice Chair of Lochmaben Community Council added, “We have repeatedly asked for the 30mph signs to be moved about 100 foot outwards as a minimum and this has been rejected.”
