Purpose of the petition and expected results

Residents of Thorntonhall are deeply concerned at the risks to safety posed by traffic passing through the village on Peel Road. 

There are two main issues: 

1. Vehicle speeds through the village regularly exceed the 30 m.p.h. limit - often substantially. 

2. The design of the mini-roundabouts at the junctions with Baroness Drive and Frederick Boulevard are such that some users either drive over the white humps or take the wrong (anti-clockwise) route around them. The latter behaviour is also often associated with speeding. 

Our Community Council has raised these concerns on numerous occasions over the past five years but have been informed that the road signage at the roundabouts complies with national standards and that enforcement is a matter for the Police. Police Scotland have responded to concerns and have, from time-to-time arranged for officers to attend to enforce the traffic regulations. They cannot,however, be in constant attendance. 

Residents request that the Council act to introduce measures to address the issues identified above before they result in serious injury or deaths. These measures could include the introduction of traffic-calming at judicious intervals and the conversion of the mini-roundabouts into conventional T junctions, 

The problems identified above will be exacerbated by the development of the Community Growth Area as more drivers use Peel Road as a route to Busby and the Carmunnock bypass. We consider that it would be appropriate to use a small part of the developer contributions from the growth area to make the improvements we seek.

Action taken, if any, to resolve issues of concern before submitting the petition

We have recently spoken to PC Douglas from East Kilbride and he will be working with us to produce a communication that will be posted on out community councial website and Facebook about the consequences of going around the roundabout the wrong way. One consequence is a £50 fine due to it being a minor traffic offense. If an accident was to happen when having taken the roundabout in the wrong direction this is a more serius offense and could lead to your driving license being removed for at least 1 year. Although we are keen to promote these consequences on our sites, we still feel that there are fundamental flaws in the design of the mini roundabouts, that are causing reckless and lazy driving practices.