Calls for improved safety at accident blackspot

The junction of the A73 Hyndford Road and A70 Ravenstruther Road near the former Winston Barracks – known locally as ‘The Cut’ – has been the scene of several tragedies over the years.

Most of these have come about due to collisions between vehicles on each of the main roads crashing into each other at the junction.

However, some have involved single vehicles coming down from Ravenstruther failing to turn either left towards Hyndford Bridge or right towards Lanark and instead careering straight ahead, through a farm fence and down a steep hill into a field.

The latest incident of this sort on Friday prompted Lanark’s SNP councillor Vivienne Shaw to call for a crash barrier at the spot.

She told the Gazette this week: “Following what appears to have been another accident where a vehicle has gone forward, straight through the wire fence and down the sheer drop of the embankment there, I have asked for an investigation to look at the erection of a preventative crash barrier at this junction.”

For more on this story pick up a copy of this week’s Lanark Gazette, which is in the shops now.