Councillor George Black - An Independent Voice

Published 17 Aug 2010 10:00

Seeing red over lights

We are facing the prospect of severe financial restraints with more than trepidation, but the conditions anticipated in this country cannot compare with the deprivation being experienced in Pakistan at present.

Who can fail to be moved by the plight of the Pakistani people and the haunting images of the children whose lives are being blighted by this disaster?

I fervently hope that the much-needed aid is quickly organised and distributed to the victims of this calamity.

On the home front, Summer is upon us and that excellent contractor for our trunk road the A82 Amey has obviously planned its maintenance schedules to coincide with the busiest part of the year for traffic.

It has have been working for some days now at the pedestrian lights at Milton and if it is doing upgrade work they have succeeded in worsening the ‘service’ provided by these lights.

The workings of these lights has always been an issue as they quite obviously favour the motorist and are not perceived by pedestrians to be particularly useful, as you can wait for several minutes to cross the road at both points on the staggered crossing.

The micro-loop which was designed to allow a quick change of the lights in favour of pedestrians, if no cars were on the anti-skid surface, appears to be disconnected or no longer functioning.

Having tried it on numerous occasions when no cars were near this area, this function would, like Amey, not appear to be working.

The people employed by this company do not appear to be aware of the Highway Code either as they have been parking their liveried vehicles on the double yellow lines at the bottom of Colquhoun Road.

In some instances I have seen as many as four vans thus parked (abandoned).

This is not only against the law but it represents a danger to the unfortunate people who have to stop on the corner of the A82 and Colquhoun Road whilst trying to enter the village.

It creates a potential hazardous situation as strangers, unlike the locals, do not anticipate vehicles being stopped at the junction.

The Amey workforce and management have obviously great regard for their own safety and well-being, but not a lot for other people’s.

The other bee in my bonnet is the fact that new pedestrian controls have been mounted on the lights, which for some days appeared not to be connected as no signal was given when they were used.

To add insult to injury these controls are not facing the pedestrian part of the crossing, but at an angle which puts them almost facing the vehicular carriageway.

Readers of this column will have by now guessed that I am not a fan of the ‘service’ provided by Amey and the latest episode is, in golfing parlance, merely par for the course.

If I was paranoid I would think that they were doing this to annoy me personally, but I think that as I have stated on many occasions in the past, they are merely incompetent and like Fabio Cappello prone to gaffes, or maybe as I am using a football simile, I should say scoring own goals.

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This article appeared in Dumbarton & Vale of Leven Reporter 17 Aug 10

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