A WOMAN whose family had a “miracle” escape in a road crash has called for traffic lights to be installed at the scene of the accident near Cardross.
Shannen Sloan was travelling with her partner, her five-year-old daughter and her partner’s two children, aged six and four, when they had to take evasive action to avoid a car leaving Ardardan Estate, on the A814 between Cardross and Helensburgh on January 28.
Their car swerved, hit the back end of the other vehicle, demolished a road sign and rolled over into a tree.
Shannen has launched an online petition at change.org calling on Argyll and Bute Council to install traffic lights at the Ardardan junction.
As this issue went to press 1,800 people had added their names to the petition.
She said: “Our three children were in the back, terrified, two of them dangling by nothing but their seatbelts and one by the end of it lying in a pool of broken glass.
“Thank God, none of them were hurt. In fact, by some miracle, and the bravery of passers-by and our emergency services, we all got out of the car with no serious injuries.
“I have whiplash and my five-year-old has damage to her cartilage around her ribs from being suspended by her seatbelt.
“If we hadn’t hit the tree, we’d have rolled down a hill and all five of us would be dead.”
Shannen said the stretch of the A814 where the accident happened is “renowned for its near misses” and highlighted poor visibility from the junction, motorists going too fast on a 60mph road, and drivers exiting Ardardan without checking it is safe to do so.
She also said traffic management plans as part of Ardardan’s expansion plans, revealed in the Reporter last week, were not enough and only lights would make the junction safe.
“This accident happened due to poor judgement when leaving the junction,” she added. “Traffic slowing measures on the main road could not have prevented this. We were doing about 45mph.
We all have huge families whose lives could have been ruined that day due to thoughtless driving.”
A 64-year-old man has been charged with careless driving in connection with the incident and a report has been sent to the procurator fiscal.
A council spokeswoman said: “The petition hasn’t been raised directly with us and we couldn’t comment on the circumstances of individual collisions. We work with our colleagues in Police Scotland in considering findings from any RTA investigations.”
To view the petition, visit change.org and search for ‘Shannen Sloan’.
