New parking bays being drawn up on a Stornoway street could cause a crash and serious injury – or worse. That is the claim of two former police officers after seeing how the lines are being drawn at Bayhead Street following street widening work.
The angled parking bays appear to be designed for vehicles to enter them head first – as they are on the left side of the road. Therefore, to leave the bays, motorists will have no alternative but to reverse directly into oncoming traffic – a situation which one of the officers described as “crazy”.
The council claims they consulted and this was the best layout. Experienced ex-cops say that’s rubbish
Despite the concerns, Western Isles Council has shrugged off the fears and is pressing ahead with the move.
One of the former policemen said: “I cannot honestly understand why the lines are not angled the other way so drivers would reverse in and then drive out safely. It is absolutely the only safe option. The fact that it is such a busy road makes me think that someone at the council has actually taken leave of their senses. Do they want an accident to happen? Are there hidden politics at work here? There must be some reason we don’t know about which has led to them not thinking this through properly.”
A second former officer, who also did not want to be named, said: “I do not want to scaremonger but this is absolutely crazy. Reversing drivers will not be able to see the fast traffic until it’s too late. I hate to say it but if they don’t change it then it’s only a matter of time until something serious happens.”
Sources within Western Isles Council revealed there had been internal concerns but these had been brushed aside by senior transportation officers.
When Western Isles Council was asked to comment, it again did not even bother to address the fears about the safety implications and merely noted: “Having considered the options and undertaken consultation, it was agreed this was the best layout.”
…..somebody said this was a ‘cycle lane’ previously, I think I heard?
I thought it was a garage forecourt. Not only are they angled wrongly and dangerously, how do they expect Stornoway drivers to align their cars into a bay that isn’t 20′ wide?
A stroll through the town centre any weekday will let you see how ‘parking’ is simply a euphemism for ‘abandoned’.
I reckon the council could save the Barra air link if regulations were enforced properly.
Miranda……it’s up to you!
Seriously, if drivers these days cannot reverse out into a traffic lane, D’you think the muppets can reverse into an angled parking bay? It’s pathetic.
Council is short of money yet has cash to waste on this. What was wrong with the previous layout or is it to restrict the sellers at the Bayhead Showrooms?
As I remeber it was an offence under the road traffic act to reverse from a minor lane into a major lane hence the need to practice your reversing on minor road junctions from main route to minor junction. I feel too much Pride at stake to accept the obvious. Going to be a hot spot for door dents from those who could not care less for other peoples property.
Badly designed for parking,drivers having to reverse onto one of the busiest roads in town,drivers view will be obstucted due to other vehicles parked adjacent.Even if the markings were reversed,the other way would still be dangerous as vehicle would have to stop and reverse into a bay thereby holding up traffic.Vehicles would also have to come from Cromwell St/Kenneth St to park in the bays or try and do a uturn if coming from the North.I may be wrong but I think that method was used before,decades ago but the road was not wide enough to do a safe reverse manoeuvere.
How about the Council spending some money fixing the rutted and pot-holed roads up and down the islands instead of painting patterns in the road? Anyway, those bays don’t look wide enough (see passing vehicle for scale) and getting into them head first will be as difficult as reversing out of them without smacking into the car in the next bay. Would suggest ignoring the lines and continue parallel parking.
Question for Iain X, those Senior Officals, you mention, do you know who they are? can you print their names?, im curious to find out who they are, so that they can be held accountable for all this.
i think the old plods are absolutely right . who was consulted ?
What a load of rubbish. First you have ex Ship Mariners overriding The judgement of our Ferry skippers, now it`s ex policemen putting in a shot. If i may add my humble opinion, and I`m a EX LGV (retired) driver. Does been ex anything make one a EXpert. Having now done a EXam of the alleged crime area, I would like to applaud the planners for their wise final decision.
First off. If the lanes were facing the opposite direction you would have the traffic coming into town crossing the main road for a direct entrance to park.causing mayhem from both directions. I would also think it would then cause double hazard for them to exit out onto the opposite lane.
Where as with it as it is leaves traffic flowing just as smooth as it is now. Reversing into a main road, oh c`mon, if they cannot reverse safely out of there, biding a lull in the traffic it hardly constitutes a traffic error, and should not have a licence anywhere. Besides if one still wants to sell a car. I assume he will have to pay for it (parking meter fee) and buyers can inspect the car in relative safety.
I went to check the personnel at tech services and found a page listing people who left the comhairle many years ago. What a shambles. If they cant be bothered to update their pages , why the hell do they have them ???
http://www.cne-siar.gov.uk/techservices/services.asp
PS the contrary fishy person above is coming out with bilge water – AGAIN.
…….and while we’re on the subject of lunacy; how has the issue of the Laxdale Bridge never been brought up/discussed/resolved by any council? Who designated this wonder of innovation and design ( knocks spots off the Golden Gate and Forth Rail Bridges) a ‘historic monument’ or ‘listed’? Why is there no plan to build a bridge alongside and have two-way flow?
Allegedly there is also an 8 Hour parking restriction going to be put in place on the new parking slots, so this should stop the selling of private vehicles on the street. Something needed to be done as parking was a nightmare, and local shops suffer because of this.
One of the officers (ex) EXpressed his concern about reversing into The fast traffic. There is after all a speed limit one must adhere to. And anyway, it will ease congestion and provide easier access to the Veterian for pets, as well as the other shops in this area. I notice that none of the EX officers has suggested a alternative.
Now the Laxdale bridge. How about a mini Spagetti Junction…? er…only joking!
Dont know why they have to waste money on new parking areas anyway. Not while there are still a few pavements without cars parked on them.
@AtlanticFish
The other side of the road already has similiar if not exactly the same type of parking….infact on the other side one would have to park in a straigther line rather than an angle…..
I think you don’t live in town .reason being have you seen the amount of boy racers “spining ” in town??..if you think that there wont be an accident…..then that’s your opinion….there are people with more better experience in judging this situation and they are right…people are expected to reverse on to traffic blind sided….very dangerous in my opinion….
There are folk reversing out of off road parking areas all around the town, some with hedges obstructing their view.
Anyway these parking places are hardly considered as a side road, so that eliminates law breaking. As for comparing with the other side of the road, there is a much wider area and more room to play with.
By the way what do “boy racers” have to do with parking bays? and do they only come out when all country living folk have gone home (leaving plenty room for “townies” to park)….and you are right..there are better people with more experience at judging the situation, and i`m one of them!!
Of course the council have put them in ANGLED the wrong way,why?,because its so obviously wrong why would they not.In charge of a sizeable budget,but sadly not in control of just a little commonsense.
Well, rather than this incorrect guesswork (such as 90% of what AtlanticFish has said) let’s look at actual facts:
The Highway Code strongly advises against reversing on to a main road from a side road, but this also applies to access and parking areas or anything minor to a main road.
If you contravene advice from the Highway Code and either cause danger to other road users or have an accident, the fact that you ignored advice contained in the Highway Code could be used as evidence against you.
Since there is now a plethera of parking sites on one side of the road, a few Disabled Parking sites on the other side of the road would be most welcome.
What I would like to know is how much these parking alterations cost the council to implement. Was it of the order of £148,000, i.e. the supposed shortfall for continuing the Barra to Benbecula flights. In any event, why were minor parking alterations in Stornoway considered more important than these lifeline service flights for Barra?
Absent Minded. Totally agree.
council just love wasting left over money at this time of year…. due to 1st april being monday new tax year and what not i wish they would invest in filling potholes properly none of this rubbish having 2 idiots in a council van driving round with bags of cold tar, filling the holes and within a few days it dissapears = pothole back amount of damage cars suffer here on the roads is crazy myself personally wheelbearings suspension & windscreen and bodywork damage my car is coverd in chip marks all over due to poor road maintanance and that why should i have to go fork out big money on parts all the time and for the paintwork to be sorted? i pay my road tax like everyone else and its being spent on god knows what! council on the island are nothing but morons one guy who owns 2 petrol stations and wasnt interested in fuel prices coming down should have the boot and be replaced with people who actually have brains and look after the islanders instead of this nonsense
bbbbbaaaaaaassttttaaaa–wishful thinking on your part since the guy with petrol stations is going in for home rule.So whilst you can continue putting your vehicle in for maintainence upkeep,its unlikely that any part of the council will be putting in for performance upgrades.Doooom–ed,we are all doomed
Hi Flyingporkers, have you ever been off the Island of Lewis, im shure many drivers on Lewis have never driven on the Mainland, it certainly shows..those lines are not on the wrong Angle! take a trip away sometime, will be good for you.. people at one time thought the Earth was Square, before Christopher Columbus Sailed for the new World, they thought that if you went over the Horizon, thats it, your over the edge….if you go down to Perth, you will see plenty roads like this, there is a Road in Southsea 4 min walk from me, its over a quatermile long, same layout, if you PM me i can show you its Photograph,
John,you drive with the flow of traffic,stop and reverse in to the angle slot leaning towards you,not away from you,its called obvious.If you walk down most towns you will see angled slots,thats not the problem,its the direction of the angle..And thanks for the chuckle over the suggestion that l have never been off island and am challenged at driving,but then how could you know,l was also a big fan of the muppet show and find suitable alternatives almost on a daily basis to placate any withdrawl symptoms.
Well Flying porkers, im only going by Iain`s Photo, im in Portsmouth at the moment, if you or the readers have Google Street view, type in Portsmouth, and right beside the Seaside, at Southsea, is a road over a Quater of a Mile long, its very very busy in the Summer, its just chock a block with traffic, and Pedestrians, all heading for the best Beach on this part of the Coast, its called “Clarence Esplanade“ if you look at the Angle of the lines, and a Taxi has just pulled in to park, looks like the picture was shot early in Winter time, as in Summer, its very busy indeed, i dont see anything different from the Picture in Bayhead, the Angle and direction looks exactly the same, but im not in Stornoway, you could be right, i would have to be there.
I guess it must be all Legal, and operating ok, otherwise you would not have this Parking systems.
Dead correct John. It may be true that National Guidlines will state that reverse-parking from a main road is the safest way. The Highway code doesn`t make it illegal but will suggest that they do not recommend it. Local councils can change the rules to allow which way is the safest and most favourable to the situation at hand and sometimes with restrictions.
Most angle parking is drive-in and is favoured over reverse-in (typicaly on hills or low traffic streets). But this is Stornoway, and most people will not have seen this in action, and they would rather shout before try. Another favourable thing about the angle park is it makes it easier to enter the traffic flow with the minimum turn of the wheel. I have no doubt that we will also see parking for disabled drivers. It is a slap on the wrist for the sar sellers.
“Traffic calming” Stornoway Style ?
What an absolute load of pathetic fuss about nothing.
But then, that’s Stornoway for you!