The Kintyre Forum

I wonder how many windscreens will be "lost" at this point. Already there are stones scattered across the road from the "side" - won't take much for a car or lorry to launch them into following vehicles windscreens - why didn't they tarmac right up to the edge !!

Bonnie Lass wrote:why didn't they tarmac right up to the edge !!

Because it is for drainage?

This gravel at the side of seems to be a feature of many recent road projects,

Saddell brae, Moy to Stewarton, also near Tayinloan.
-as already suggested it may be to assist water run-off, also low maintenance verge compared to grass which needs constant cutting through the summer months.

It does seem to present serious risks to road users though, not only potential windscreen damage, I would suggest it also presents a serious risk to motorcycles/cyclists both from flying debris and also getting the stuff under their wheels.

I have noticed a couple of times that some non local HGV drivers when passing other wide vehicles mistake these gravel verges as 'part of the road' without slowing down and that really does send a huge trail of debris out behind them. Not good

thanks russanros - my thoughts exactly - I would have thought given the width of the gravel, that they could have widened the road a bit more (wasn't that the object of the exercise) avoiding the need to "run off" onto the gravel completely

I wish A & B council would sweep up surplus chuckie-stanes quickly. Back in June, while cycling from Tayinloan to Claonaig, the liberal use of chippings for surface dressing on the Redhouse-Claonaig road, which is part of the National Cycle Network, by the way, rendered it a scree slope, making cycling impossible for well over a mile, if not two. Not only were chippings flying up as cars passed, but it was at best like cycling through treacle. Result - I missed a ferry by at most 10 minutes, so had over an hour to cool my heels at Claonaig; fortunately it wasn't raining.