A serious accident involving a motorbike and a car on the A92 near Freuchie on Wednesday focused the minds of residents who are up in arms over rising traffic volumes on the road which dissects the village.
The A92 between Freuchie and New Inn was closed in the morning after the accident, which resulted in a motorcyclist being taken to hospital with multiple fractures.
Vehicle numbers on the busy road have risen by some 30% in recent years and angry residents of the Freuchie Mill area which has around 30 homes are claiming that their lives are becoming increasingly endangered and miserable as a result.
There is no pedestrian crossing or footbridge available to reach these houses, making it a hazardous challenge for residents to reach the village’s services, all of which lie on the other side of the road.
Lisa Glasgow is a mother of two children who attend Freuchie Primary School.
She said: “Our real concern is for the safety of our kids. Obviously, we have never been able to let them cross the A92 themselves to go to school, but now the traffic has got so bad that even accompanying adults are fearful.
“Several parents are now driving their children to school to keep them safe, which is a ridiculous state of affairs given that the school is less than 10 minutes’ walk away.
“Everything we need in the village like the shop, village hall, hotel, pub, church and sports clubs is on the other side of the road but we are unable to access them safely.
“We are taking our lives in our hands on a daily basis and think it is essential that the roads authorities install a pedestrian crossing, footbridge or even an underpass before someone is killed.”
The secretary of Freuchie Community Council, Patrick Laughlin, says the whole village strongly supports the campaign for a better crossing. He said: “There are now 13,000 vehicle movements on the A92 each day, up from 10,000 just a few years ago. A growing number of the vehicles are HGVs, which thunder through the village.
“We have been told by Transport Scotland and BEAR Scotland (which maintains trunk roads) that there is no money available for safety improvements at this location. They say that figures show that this location has a low accident record and yet we, as local people, see bumps and ‘near misses’ at this junction on an almost daily basis. The (latest) incident sadly illustrates the dangers of this stretch of road.”
The Courier asked Transport Scotland to comment but no one had replied before The Courier went to press.