Surviving planet Earth

Surviving the road

It is often said that Scotland provides a slower pace of life. In one's minds-eye, this may conjure up images of isolated communities going about their business in quiet fashion, the silence only broken by the cry of gulls and bleat of sheep.

This is news to me, because having lived here for some time I would perhaps describe the pace of life as 'brisk', particularly on our roads, and if you are planning on driving here there are a few things you should know about which could mean the difference between going home with a pocket full of memories — or not going home.

A quick word on Scottish roads

The transport network here is not only essential for economic reasons but also allows visitors access to some of our most scenic locations, yet Scotland's roads are somewhat deadly places to travel upon. The statistics speak for themselves:

In 2019 there were 168 people killed, 2001 seriously injured and a further 5,425 slightly injured (Source: ) although I must point out that the trend has been a decreasing number in all these categories since 1970. That year saw a truly staggering 22,133 people affected across all severities of collision, and the reductions since may be due to increased vehicle safety laws and driver competencies. Yet it is still a sad fact of life that so many people continue to be affected by road collisions.

So how do you keep yourself and your loved ones safe when driving in Scotland? One of the things you need to consider, amongst the others listed below, is topography and this is perhaps the single most useful tool at your disposal in avoiding death or injury. Scotland has many majestic features, which of course make it such a great place to visit, but those same features hide a plethora of death-traps and pitfalls for the unwary. In the interests of helping people avoid an unhappy day, I have compiled a list of the dangers that you really need to know about.

1: Road signage can be sporadic, and is often missing or inappropriately signed

This is potentially criminal, but the truth is that missing, wrong or damaged road signs do not appear to be priority areas to rectify. An example of this I found on the road from Inverness to Fort William where a 'Double Bend' sign that indicated it was a left-right bend turned out to be a right-left bend. The difference in instruction meant that what I was expecting to find was reversed.

A further stretch of the same road, further west, had no road markings, yet when the road marking re-started it was to the accompaniment of a sign that read 'No Road Markings' — all very strange. A little later on the road markings not only disappeared again, but my lane narrowed drastically by about a metre in width, indicated only by a faint trace where the cats eyes (or road studs) stood. Perhaps no clearer indicator of the relaxed nature of Scottish road safety signs is a spot where in 2016 a car careered off the road and into a deep loch, killing two children. The roadside is marked with red, edge marker posts in deteriorating condition, but the missing marker, the one the tragedy took with it into the loch, has never been replaced.

Roadworks also tend to spring up with such regularity that you will often come across temporary traffic lights in the middle of nowhere whilst a large group of men stand around a hole in the road carefully watching a lone colleague doing the actual work. Occasionally, one of the men will point out some interesting feature in said hole whilst the others crane their necks and nod encouragingly. Sixteen week later, the hole will be patched over and the gang will move to a new bit of road where the whole process starts over again. No-one knows why — it is just one of life's mysteries.

The one major issue with these pop-up roadworks is that they are not always very careful where they place their signage. Sometimes you won't be aware that up ahead there is a queue of traffic until you round a bend at speed and have a brief and amusing fight with your car brakes. Just something to remember, guys!