A Borders road has been closed following a crash – just hours before a new speed limit designed to make it safer comes into force.

Emergency services were called out to the incident on the B6357 at Saughtree around 3.25pm on Sunday afternoon. It comes the day before the road’s 60mph limit was due to be reduced to 50mph, as part of an 18-month trial aimed at reducing the number of smashes – although it’s unclear if speed was a factor on this occasion.

The initiative, as reported in Highways News last week, is targeting roads popular with motorcyclists, and will also see top speeds cut on the A708 between Moffat and Selkirk, A7 north of Galashiels, and the A6088 between Kielder and Bonchester Bridge.

The overall aim of this trial is to reduce casualties on routes with significant motorcycle injuries and the evaluation will focus on how effective the reduced speed limit has been in improving these statistics, says Scottish Borders Council.

“A robust evaluation of the trial will analyse the effect, if any, of a lower speed limit in reducing collisions involving motorcyclists on the four sections of road identified. The trial will cover two summer periods when motorcyclists are most active.”

The evaluation will take place in September 2026 and a consultation with the local communities and relevant stakeholders will take place alongside this to determine whether the 50mph speed limits or revert to national speed limit.

(Pic: Shutterbox/Dreamstime.com)