A “DANGEROUS” section of road in Renfrewshire needs a pedestrian crossing before someone gets hurt, a councillor has warned. 

Cars regularly fly down Incle Street, Paisley, outside of St Mirin’s Cathedral, as they try to beat traffic from the adjacent Glasgow Road. 

Councillor Jim Sharkey believes the area frequented by pedestrians represents a serious safety concern and has called on Renfrewshire Council to install a crossing. 

He said: “It’s the speed the cars come up at this particular section. 

“When they come from under the railway bridge trying to get on to Glasgow Road, there’s a long straight bit which allows them to have a look at the other traffic at the junction between Mill Street and Gauze Street.

“Sometimes they try to beat the traffic and that means they’re not looking at pedestrians and it’s dangerous.

“It’s a busy pedestrian area, there’s major social buildings around here and anybody coming from Whitehaugh to get to the town centre is going this way. It’s a safety concern.

“At the very least, between those two dropped kerbs, there should be a zebra crossing but I would prefer it with lights.”

Councillor Sharkey has welcomed safety improvements with the introduction of traffic lights at the Mill Street cut off but believes Incle Street should have been the priority. 

He added: “This is the more dangerous section and should have been treated first.”

It’s not the first time campaigners have called for something to be done at Incle Street. 

Stuart Robertson, a full-time carer to his mum Barbara, raised the issue last July and said it was difficult getting across the busy stretch with a wheelchair. 

Speaking at the time, he said: “Basically if you can’t run across that road then you’ve pretty much had it.

“With the new Lidl there’s going to be more traffic and I’m just thinking ‘God help anyone that tries to cross there because they could get killed’.

“You’ve got Paisley Grammar School and a lot of schoolkids walking along Glasgow Road. Especially at 8.30 in the morning, it’s really busy.

“There’s no safe crossing, so you either have to run quite quickly or you have to wait for someone to stop to give way to you and the chances of that are pretty remote.

“If you have mobility issues you could be there forever. I’m concerned that someone could get run over.”

A spokesman for Renfrewshire Council said: “The Incle Street/Glasgow Road/Mill Street/Gauze Street junction is an important junction which is being assessed as part of the town centre traffic management strategy and the option of installing a controlled pedestrian crossing at this location continues to feature, in our drive to ensure pedestrians are safe on Renfrewshire’s roads.

“We apologise for any inconvenience caused by the works at Incle Street and have instructed the contractor to remove any temporary obstruction of pedestrian dropped kerbs.”