Stronger police presence to be expected along A75 and A77 this week
This is part of a road safety campaign for motorcyclists.
Police are getting ready to clamp down on road safety this week by increasing patrol units and having more unmarked police cars dotted along the A75 and A77.
This is because they’re expecting a big fleet of motorcyclists travelling through Dumfries and Galloway to get to the Cairnryan ferry port to get across the water to Northern Ireland for the North West 200 event.
This biking festival is to start tomorrow, and the weekend race is estimated to attract around 150,000 visitors worldwide, which is why, along with the recent spate of good weather, officers want to make sure everyone is safe on the roads.
Police Scotland has confirmed patrols will be supported by Police Scotland Safety Cameras, who are operating daily mobile deployments on the A75, alongside the average speed camera system that is installed on the A77.
Ally Johnson, who is the Inspector of the National Motorcycle Unit, told Greatest Hits Radio, “What we’ll see will be a massive increase in motorcycles travelling through the Dumfries and Galloway region to go to the Cairnryan port to go towards Northern Ireland.
“So, the campaign is really about the increase in motorcycles on the roads throughout the region, but also making sure all of those motorcyclists get to their destination safely.”
He added that they’re “hoping to highlight in particular the series of good weather that we’re going through, that in itself will bring more motorcyclists onto the road. We’re expecting a very busy week in terms of traffic, and we’re just asking everybody to use all the road space together and do it safely.”
During the interview, Johnson told us what we can expect to see from police over the next few days:
“The A75 and A77 will be the main arterial routes to Cairnryan ferry port itself, so that is where we will see the increase in traffic and police activity, but also with safety cameras on those roads, and it’s really there just to highlight how to travel safely on those roads."