| A North East Fife motorist has expressed his anger over an alleged lack of road gritting which led to a series of accidents near Wormit this morning, writes Gordon Berry.
The motorist said the busy short section from the Five Roads roundabout to Wormit had been left “like glass” before several different cars went off the road.
The local resident, who does not wish to be named, said for some reason it appeared the road had not been gritted, and the result had been total mayhem.
“There were cars all over the place. One rolled five or six times down and embankment, a couple of others were in ditches, and one mother was left holding a babe in arms after her car left the road.
“When I went to see what had happened, I couldn’t stand up in the roadway.
“There’s no doubt someone could have been killed, but fortunately any injuries were minor ones. There is no way this roadshould have been left untouched”
Accident repair specialist Peter Murphy, who runs a business in Gauldry, said he was aware of several accidents on the section of road.
“I stopped at the scene on my way to work after seeing a car had rolled down an embankment, but luckily the car had landed on its wheels and the driver was able to get out.
“I know there were other accidents there, and we will be going along to pick up a car later.
“The road was just like a skating rink, and there was no grit there at all.”
The lead officer in Fife Council’s transportation services customer response unit, Martin Kingham, said the authority carries out 24-hour monitoring of road surfaces using sensors throughout Fife’s road network.
In addition, he said, local forecast information is used to base plans for gritting operations.
“No sensors across the network indicated temperatures below freezing throughout the night, although precautionary gritter patrols commenced at 7.30am.
“The sensor nearest the accident site showed the road surface temperature had not dropped below 1.3 C and was on the increase at the time of the accident.
“What appears to have happened is an isolated case of surface water freezing over for a short period.
“Fife Council regrets any accidents that occurred, but motorists should be particularly cautious when driving at this time of year” he said. |
