Safety plea after cars are mangled

Jan 18 2013 by Paul Cargill, Perthshire Advertiser

A Perthshire woman yesterday called for road traffic calming measures outside her home - after a motorist crashed into her husband’s parked car and wrote it off.

Sarah Fergusson (36) contacted The PA after the collision on Main Street - which happened just months after another driver ploughed into her own company car on the same stretch of road just yards from a primary school.

The mother of two is now leading calls for road traffic calming measures to be introduced on the busy A85 Perth to Crieff road through Methven.

Sarah and her husband Stephen (36) had been visiting Perth when they received a call at midday from the local garage telling them a young driver had driven into Stephen’s Volvo S40.

She said yesterday: “My husband’s car got punted about 20 foot up the road by a driver heading towards Perth. The chasse was twisted and the boot and back doors were all buckled.

“The two cars ended up having to get pulled apart. My husband’s car has subsequently been written off - it had £6500 worth of damage.”

Sarah could not believe their misfortune - as another motorist had rammed into her Vauxhall Vectra outside their house just months earlier. “My company car got a belt up the backside outside my property about four months ago,” she said. “The bumper was crumpled and the exhaust was damaged. Thankfully nobody was in the vehicles on both occasions. But I’ve got a young family - sometimes I leave the kids in the car while I’m bringing in the shopping.

“It could quite easily have been a serious incident.”

Sarah is now trying to persuade councillors to consider the introduction of new traffic calming measures such as road humps or speed cameras through her community council.

She added: “The council and the police have said parked cars along the street are already a traffic calming measure - but you’re gambling with people’s lives.

“We live by a school near a pedestrian crossing and all the parents use the road to pick up and drop off their kids. There’s been a few near misses with drivers in such a hurry to overtake.

“People have just about taken doors off and knocked kids down. It really is quite horrendous.

“We’re hoping to get some kind of traffic calming measures introduced. There’s no excuse - you can’t put a value on people’s lives.”

Almond and Earn councillor Alan Livingstone told The PA: “We are aware an enormous amount of traffic passes through Methven - especially at peak times in the morning and afternoon - and that sometimes speed limits are not observed.

“We are also aware that cars which have been legitimately parked on the roadside have been pranged and damaged to a greater or lesser extent.

“We have taken this up with the police and the local WPC who comes to the community council meetings. We are grateful there is an increased police presence in the village from time to time and there is an increased awareness from the police that speeding and careless driving needs to be addressed.”