Sign of the times
A ROUNDABOUT way of raising its advertising revenue has seen North Lanarkshire Council slammed by local motorists, opposition councillors and two of Britain's road safety organisations.
Controversial signs have been erected on at least three local roundabouts in busy areas like Blackwood, Balloch and the Craiglinn Interchange.
They invite drivers to contact a Motherwell telephone number or to email to the council with a view to booking advertising space on the roundabout itself, the details of which we have purposefully blocked out in our photograph.
The News has learned that the council hopes to generate as much as 50,000 in income from the sale of the signs which will be mounted in concrete at four points on the roundabout.
But a number of readers have contacted this newspaper, arguing that the signs are nothing more than a cynical means of boosting council coffers at the expense of road safety.
One of them, Ravenswood man Brian Miller expressed his surprise that a roundabout should be a suitable location for a sign of this nature as he believes it creates an unnecessary distraction.
"It seems to me that putting adverts on a roundabout is a hazard," said Brian who is well known locally as the artist for Cumbernauld Development Corporation.
Maybe it is sponsored by a firm that repairs crashed cars?'' he added.
Another opponent of the move is Scottish Nationalist councillor Alan O'Brien who said that he had been infuriated by the appearance of the signs in his Balloch ward.
"This is a 100 per cent hazard and it has been done without any consultation from local councillors, the public or the police," said Councillor O'Brien.
"When drivers see these signs, their eyes cannot help but drift. These signs are a danger," he added.
The News has learned that the move to have the signs as a permanent fixture on local roundabouts will be discussed at a meeting of the Planning & Environment Committee at NLC headquarters in Motherwell tomorrow and that SNP members will oppose the motion.
The News has also been speaking to the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents about the signs.
A spokesperson said she was concerned about the fact that these contain specific pieces of information which must be retained in the memory thus undermining the driver's concentration skills.
"Drivers encounter all sorts of distractions and dealing with and prioritising a reasonable amount of information is part of a driver's skill," she said.
"But having stated that there is a responsibility on the driver, there is, of course, a responsibility on local authorities too. It is vital that all roadside advertising should be kept in proportion and that it does not get out of hand," she added.
"Councils need to use their judgement to ensure that advertising does not cause an unreasonable amount of distraction, for example through the inclusion of lots of small text or information that might require particular attention as a driver seeks to remember it, such as phone numbers," added the spokesperson.
That view was shared by an increasingly high profile road safety charity Brake which provides support to the families of accident victims.
Senior Communications officer Jane Whitham told the News "It is really important for any council considering using roundabouts to advertise to examine the risks and any possible distraction factor."
But when the News raised the issue with NLC, John Marran, traffic and transportation manager denied that the signs presented any risk.
"Road safety is a top priority for North Lanarkshire Council at all times, and was a particular consideration when plans for roundabout advertising were being put in place," he said.
"All signs have been sited to ensure the required visibility for drivers on roundabouts is not affected and the signs do not present a distraction or a hazard to drivers. Roundabout advertising has been implemented by other local authorities in Scotland, and we are not aware of any road safety problems associated with its introduction," added Mr Marran.
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Weather for Cumbernauld
Sunday 05 February 2012
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