Road safety improvements to be made in South Lanarkshire, where a total of £1.7 million will be spent on accident reduction measures, traffic signal projects, engineering measures at schools and speed limit initiatives.

The money will come from a combination of council funding, Strathclyde Partnership for Transport (SPT) funding and Scottish Government funding.

Full details of the proposals were presented to a meeting of the Road Safety Forum this week, reports the Daily Record in Scotland.

Chairwoman of the forum, Councillor Julia Marrs, said: “This plan illustrates the council’s commitment to improving the safety on our road network. We understand that many roads can be a concern to local residents, and the council uses specific criteria based on the roads where the most accidents occur to determine which roads to focus on. Investigations identify the cause of accidents and targeted improvements are made.

“Although engineering can be key, partnership working with Police Scotland, positioning of mobile speed cameras, signage, road markings, traffic signals and education of road users are also important. Year-on-year improvements to the roads of greatest concern alongside education, encouragement and enforcement are key to South Lanarkshire’s work towards challenging targets to reduce accidents on our roads.”

Earlier this year 20 mph speed limits were introduced in six town centres and approximately 90 schools as part of the Spaces for People (SfP) initiative, encouraging increased road safety and easier social distancing in areas where more people are likely to actively travel.

The Forum also heard consideration will be given to other locations, which will be determined following the outcome of the SfP review later the year.