Born in 1946 and brought up in Cupar, Fife, I was educated at the local school - Road Safety
1. Stuart McMillan (West of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Government what action it has taken to improve road safety. (S3O-6657)
The Minister for Transport, Infrastructure and Climate Change (Stewart Stevenson):
The Scottish Government will shortly publish a new road safety framework for Scotland for the period to 2020. We provide £1.3 billion for infrastructure funding to Transport Scotland to ensure a safe strategic road network and we fund significant educational initiatives through Road Safety Scotland.
Stuart McMillan: As I highlighted in this morning's debate, when I undertook my survey in Inverkip, which achieved a response rate of 41 per cent, some 81 per cent of respondents said that they want action to be taken on the A78 junction at Inverkip. I welcome the fact that Transport Scotland will now undertake a survey, but I ask the minister to accept my invitation to come to Inverkip to see for himself the dangerous and potentially life-threatening junction. Will he agree to meet members of the Inverkip and Wemyss Bay community council to hear their concerns and to discuss the matter further?
Stewart Stevenson: As I said in the previous debate, the member's engagement with local communities on the issue is impressive. I will certainly seek to make time available in my diary to visit Inverkip to see the junction for myself and to meet members of the community council.
Robert Brown (Glasgow) (LD): It is understandable that blind and partially sighted people, as well as other disabled people, have concerns about the development of shared-surface schemes in some of our towns and cities. Will the Scottish Executive consider a moratorium on new shared-surface schemes until the completion of research, either by taking part in the Department for Transport's research or by conducting its own research on the issue?
Stewart Stevenson: The member makes a fair point. When I met representatives of blind and partially sighted people some time ago, I was given a clear exposition of the real difficulties that can arise when we share space. The history of such schemes, particularly in the Netherlands, is generally good, but I think that we have cultural as well as engineering issues to consider. I will not make the commitment that the member asked for at this moment, but he can be assured that I am aware of, and we are engaging on, the issue.
