
Dana Campbell and Sharon Anslow are leading the campaign. Picture by Willie Urquhart
A road safety campaign on Skye aimed at overseas drivers has been rekindled because of what organisers say is a growing need for more awareness.
The Keep Left – Skye initiative aims to remind the thousands of foreign visitors who flock to the island each week which side of the carriageway they should be driving on, in a bid to improve road safety and cut the number of accidents.
Among the campaigners are two Skye women who were both injured after being involved in head-on collisions with tourists driving on the road side of the road.
Started by Sharon Anslow in 2019, the campaign has seen more than 250 stickers posted at laybys and beauty spots urging drivers to ‘Keep Left’, while also seeking support from Highland Council, transport agencies and politicians for extra awareness action.
The campaign was wound down during the pandemic when there were few international visitors. However, with increasing numbers of overseas tourists now coming to Skye, the campaign has been revived.
The latest phase involves producing stickers for the rear bumpers of vehicles, also with the ‘Keep Left’ logo. Sharon and her team hope the more local vehicles sport the sticker, the more visual prompts there will be for tourists.
An online JustGiving appeal to help fund the stickers surpassed its £500 target within 24 hours and now stands at over £900.
Said Sharon: “Skye is busier than ever now and people driving on the wrong side of the road is happening all too often. Every time somebody encounters a driver doing this, I know because people message me.
“It happens when people leave passing places, junctions and beauty spots and they just seem to lose their train of thought and road awareness.”
The initial batch of 250 stickers were put up throughout Skye and Lochalsh by Sharon and fellow campaigners Sarah Archer and Dana Campbell themselves, “at nights when it was quieter, in all weathers and with our hi-vis vests on.
“We could have put up 1,000 signs with the number of requests we’ve had and gone around the island five times,” said Sharon. “It was incredible. We knew it was needed – we just didn’t know how much it was needed!
“We started the second fundraiser because of that reason, to provide more signs. It’s just a visual prompt, but the hope is that if we can flood the island with the message it will be a reminder to people coming in.
If we can prevent one accident, it is worth it for us.”
Sharon, who works for a local accountancy firm, had her accident five years ago at Sligachan, while driving from her then home in Fiskavaig to Portree.
“It wasn’t even in high season, it was between Christmas and New Year,” she said. “I met a foreign tourist driving on the wrong side of the road.
“The accident had a major impact on me and I suffered from bad post traumatic stress afterwards. Driving past the accident spot was really difficult for me and we had to move because I could no longer face the commute.”
Sharon’s children were not with her at the time of the accident but their car seats were thrown from the vehicle with the impact, a chilling sign of what could have been.
Sarah Archer broke both her knees and had to use a wheelchair for seven months after her head-on collision with a foreign driver in July last year.
Innes Watson, Sarah’s partner, was on the scene within a minute of the accident and had to witness the aftermath. Sarah is still in recovery and has undergone multiple operations.
Earlier this year, Dana Campbell had come across several vehicles on the wrong side of the road while driving with her children in the car on various journeys.
Dana was left with such fear that she wanted to help make the roads safer so reached out to Sharon, Sarah and Innes and requested the revival of Keep Left.
Said Sharon: “You’re just going about your own business, driving to the speed limit, and it just takes one tourist to drive the wrong way. We all have this weird nervous energy that makes us want to do this campaign. We just hope that by doing these little things it might have an impact.
“There’s no way we want to stop foreign visitors coming here, but we want them to be safe and for island residents to be safe. The overseas drivers who were involved in the accidents saw their families injured too. This campaign is to benefit us all.”
The new bumper stickers will be available through the campaign’s Keep Left – Skye Facebook page.
BY JACKIE MACKENZIE
jackie.mackenzie@whfp.com