Plan to cut rural road accidents

Recent figures revealed seven out of 10 fatal accidents were on rural roads

Anti-skid surfacing and better signing are among the measures included in a scheme to reduce the number of deaths on South Lanarkshire's rural roads

The local authority's £1.8m Route Action Plan will focus on six of the most dangerous roads in the Clydesdale, Hamilton and Strathaven areas.

It follows figures published in August which found seven out of 10 fatal accidents happened on rural roads.

In April the council pledged £126m to improve 80% of its rural roads by 2016.

The projects will be financed by the council and Strathclyde Partnership for Transport (SPT).

Roads to be improved Mauldslie Road in Clydesdale, from the A71 to Clyde St A70 in Clydesdale, from Douglas to the M74 A70 in Clydesdale to A743 A706 in Clydesdale, from Forth to the council boundary A72 in Clydesdale, from Hazelbank to the B7018 A723 between Hamilton and Strathaven

Councillor John Murray, chair of the local authority's road safety forum, said the most accident-prone roads would be treated first.

He said: "We use quite a complex set of calculations to determine which roads need attention the most.

"Using these calculations we can then identify and make improvements to the roads where the most accidents occur.

"Although most to the improvements are to rural roads, there are also sections of the urban road network which will benefit from the Route Action Plan."

A number of options will be considered to improve the safety of a road including better signing, including vehicle activated signs, and putting chevrons on sharp bends.