Steve and Sara lead demonstration

Coupar Angus residents met at Forfar Road today to join with Steve and Sara Edwards in protest over the lack of progress with the installation of traffic calming measures, which were promised by Perth and Kinross Council.

The protest took place just yards away from where Mr and Mrs Edwards' 2 year old daughter Harlow was killed by a speeding motorist in October last year.

In November, members of the community produced proposals to calm traffic in the area. These formed the basis of an action plan by Perth and Kinross Council's Roads Department. However, in spite of the plans being approved in January by Coupar Angus and Bendochy Community Council, very little work has been carried out on the ground (see earlier news story).

Speeding continues to be a problem on Forfar Road, with motorists routinely observed breaking the speed limit. This led Steve and Sara to organise today's protest. Steve gave the following statement:

“As the traffic continues to speed - often at more than twice the legal limit - we have decided to stage this demonstration to remind drivers of the importance of keeping to the speed limit. With the better weather our park becomes busier and combined with the fact our children are still having to cross this road every morning to catch their school bus, we feel that the need to do something to keep our children safe from the dangers these drivers pose grows. In the absence of any permanent traffic calming measures we have been left with no choice but to take things into our own hands and hope this will make the impact we need.”
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It was evident today that the community fully backs the Edwards family in their pursuit of safer road conditions in the area. It is hoped that Perth and Kinross Council will now get a move on with their long-promised programme of road safety improvement works.