Police act on danger at the Bellshill by-pass

Officers from North Lanarkshire Divisional Road Policing have been on alert following numerous incidents of dangerous driving, speeding and items being thrown from the flyovers at the A725, Bellshill.

Road Policing officers have been patrolling the by-pass and stopped a total of 446 vehicles since January 2011 which resulted in reports to the Procurator Fiscal, Hamilton for various road traffic offences.  There has been a further 263 motorists issued with fixed penalty notices for speeding offences which incur penalty points on a drivers licence and a £60 fine.  There are three speed restrictions in place on the road which are 60, 50 and 40 mph and people are still driving well in excess of these limits.  The previous speed restriction on the road was 70 mph although this was changed due to the identified issues on the road some time ago.

The OIC of North and South Lanarkshire Divisional Road Policing, Inspector, Keith Prentice said:

“I actively encourage the officers under my command to tackle all types of road traffic offences on the Bellshill bypass.  The amount of motorists reported this year alone would suggest a need for Road Policing Officers to be monitoring this stretch of carriageway.  This will assist in protecting the law abiding motorists from any dangers faced by neglectful drivers.  I will continue to monitor the situation and would warn motorists that we will continue to report offences detected at this location”.

There have been 3 incidents of bricks and bottles being thrown from the bridges which have caused damage to vehicles driving on the carriageway.  Some of the incidents reported to the Police have even caused motorists to take evasive action to avoid a collision.  This type of incident leaves drivers fearful to take the wheel again due to the shock and stress it can cause.  Following an incident on 29th Feb where a stone was thrown from the bridge at the Bellziehill roundabout, a windscreen of a vehicle travelling on the road was shattered causing the driver to take evasive action to avoid a collision.  A 51 year old female had to attend hospital due to fragments of glass littering the car, covering the woman in sharp pieces. Officers gathered information from witnesses which highlighted the person responsible may have been on lunch break from a local school.

Isabelle Boyd, Head Teacher at Cardinal Newman High School was keen to work with the Police in an effort to identify the person involved and immediately carried out enquiries within the school, which proved invaluable.
She said:

“Cardinal Newman High school is committed to teaching pupils about all aspects of road safety, and we have worked closely with the Police on such matters in the past.”

Mrs Boyd went on to say:

“We were horrified to learn that someone from our school may have been involved in such a serious incident. Within half an hour of being asked for help, we had information from pupils that identified the person responsible. That information was passed to the Police and to the pupils parents and appropriate action was taken.  This was very much an isolated incident for us, but one that reinforces the need for the excellent road safety education work we do here in partnership with the council and Strathclyde Police”.

A report has been sent to the Scottish Children’s Reporter Administration in Hamilton in relation to a 12 year old boy.