New Struan School, Scottish Autism’s Alloa-based day and residential school, has deployed an innovative approach to try and tackle the issue of vehicles speeding on Smithfield Loan.

When pupil Caine Arnott (17) was out on his Daily Mile with classroom assistant, Lynsey Smith, they noticed that vehicles were travelling along the stretch of road outside the school at speeds in excess of the 30 and 20 mph limits.

After requesting interventions from Clackmannanshire Council to implement new traffic calming measures, the school were advised that the 20mph roundels on the road would be repainted, although this has done little to slow vehicles down.

The community police officer has also been contacted, and said that he would deploy a team with the radar gun to try and address matters.

In the end, the school decided that it was time to recruit their own police officer, and so 'PC Struan' has been deployed to try and act as a deterrent to motorists.

Commenting Lynsey said:

“While out with Caine on our Daily Mile we noticed that cars were travelling in excess of the speed limit, and this presented a safety issue for our pupils while out taking their daily exercise.

“When we approached the council for assistance, they said that they cannot do more because Smithfield Loan is an industrial road, but we felt that we had to do something to ensure that the pupils were safe when accessing the community beyond our grounds.

“PC Struan has currently been out for a week and has already had a huge impact on the speed of vehicles outside of the school.

 
“I am a huge believer that every one of our pupils has the right to access our wider community and to be safe whilst doing so. Hopefully together, with PC Struan alongside, we can achieve this!”