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3 July, 2009
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By Jackie MacKenzie
Published: 03 April, 2008
THE new 20mph limits being rolled out across primary schools in Ross-shire should be able to be operated from within the school to further improve children's safety.
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That was the call this week from a Black Isle councillor who says teachers should have more control over the new system which is being introduced as part of a Highland-wide school safety programme. Councillor David Alston said that a case in point was in his own ward at Ferintosh Primary School near Conon Bridge, where the new 20mph speed limit and flashing warning lights will shortly be going into operation. "The speed limits are very badly needed at Ferintosh School because the road carries a 60mph limit and quite often drivers are going at more than 60 because they use that road as a rat run," he said. "But an important issue is that the school also uses the Ferintosh Hall in the village and it's very unsafe for children walking along the side of that road. "I think it should not be beyond the bounds of modern technology where schools get these signs to give the schools themselves the ability to control them. "Currently they are just on a timer and centrally controlled at council HQ in Inverness." He added: "Being able to control the lights from the school would be very useful in bad weather and snow when the school has to close early and children have to leave the school outwith the normal hours." Councillor Alston said that pressure was growing to reduce the general speed limit on that stretch of road from 60mph to 40mph, in recognition of the fact that Easter Kinkell was a growing village. He acknowledged there might be technical and legal issues associated with his lights proposal, but added: "I think a bit of creative thinking is what's required here rather than doing it by the book. "It's definitely something which the council should consider because, after all, children's safety is the paramount consideration." However, Murdo MacLeod, the council's Inverness-based traffic technician who is in charge of the 20mph speed limit roll-out, did not think it would be workable or legal for schools to operate the systems. "There's no facility for that," he said. "If the schools give us the times when they want the lights to operate, such as going to a local hall on a regular basis, then we can do that. "There is flexibility, but these are legal speed limits and have to be tightly controlled. It can't be left to individual schools to operate them." He said the council could react at fairly short notice to change the times of the lights if the school had to close suddenly such as in spells of bad weather. The council has received more than £2 million in funding from the Scottish Government to get the message across to drivers that slowing down near schools saves lives and that reducing the speed limit to 20mph outside schools significantly improves the safety of children walking or cycling to school. 
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