Pet cat’s death sparks road safety calls

AN ESKDALEMUIR woman has jump started a road safety campaign, following the tragic death of her cat. Geraldine Fox moved to the village in November after falling in love with the its surroundings. Her main reason for the move was to ensure the safety of her cats so they could go outside regularly. But tragedy struck last Monday when her three-and-a-half-year-old cat Mila was found dead. Her untimely death has spurred a devastated Geraldine on to restart her campaign for more road safety measures along the B709. She said: “When I was viewing the house the roads were lovely and quiet, so I completely underestimated the level of traffic on the B709. It should be a lot quieter than it is and I couldn’t believe it when I saw timber lorries coming through the village. “It is ridiculous the amount of timber lorries and other traffic that comes through, there are no pavements and there’s the bustling hub. “But there are people who are afraid to go out on bikes because of the horrific volume of traffic.” As part of her continued efforts, Geraldine has been in regular contact with Dumfries and Galloway Council and Forestry and Land Scotland making them aware of the dangers that she and the rest of the villagers are facing. [caption id="attachment_58497" align="aligncenter" width="350"]

MUCH MISSED . . . Mila[/caption] She hopes that through her efforts Mila will have not died in vain, adding: “Mila was beloved not just by me but my daughter Gemma as well, and whilst we’ve been left incredibly sad by her death we know that we did everything we could to keep her safe. “We didn’t let the cats out at night because we know that vehicles come crashing through the village as early as 5 am. “If whatever hit her had stopped and told someone then she may have stood a chance but they didn’t stop, perhaps they didn’t even notice. “There are a lot of heavy vehicles on the road here that appear to me to drive far too fast: tractors, timber wagons, parcel delivery drivers, work vans, transport lorries, articulated lorries and even just cars. “The irony that this has happened to my beloved cat, so I am more determined than ever now to fulfil my mission of making this beautiful village safe from careless drivers.”