NEWS of £36 million funding to support walking and cycling announced by Transport Minister Humza Yousaf is to be welcomed (Active travel funding doubled to £36m, May 8), albeit part of an £80m funding pot already allocated.
Far too often we experience how sharing roads among pedestrians, cyclists and motorists leads to collisions that could have been prevented had the road conditions and visibility been better. Therefore, we support separating pedestrians, cyclists and motorists through an expansion of the network of walking and cycling paths across Scotland.
We would like to stress, however, that measures like these will not single-handedly lead to safer roads. The road mentality in Scotland still favours the motorist over more vulnerable road users, which presents a huge barrier to more people taking up active lifestyles. More needs to be done to change our road culture fundamentally for people in Scotland to feel safer regardless of their means of transportation, ultimately empowering them to lead healthier and more active lifestyles. Perhaps it is time we started to beat the “presumed liability” drum once again?
Brenda Mitchell
Road Traffic Accident Law (Scotland) LLP
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel