Heartbroken father of two-year-old killed by car in Coupar Angus begs drivers to slow down

THE heartbroken dad of a little girl who was knocked down and killed has appealed to drivers to slow down.

Two-year-old Harlow Edwards died after a car mounted the pavement near her home in Coupar Angus last October.

Yet motorists continue to flout the speed limit on the road near Larghan Park, risking further loss of life.

Harlow’s devastated family describes the speeds as “upsetting and frightening”.

Her dad Steven, 39, is heartened by the impact of fake police scarecrows erected by residents at the accident blackspot.

However, he believes more action is necessary to prevent another tragedy.

He said: “As a family all we can say about the road safety issues in Coupar Angus is that, while we continue to find the speeding drivers on the Forfar road both upsetting and frightening, we are heartened by the positive effect the scarecrows have had in calming traffic.

“We look forward to seeing these changes permanently once the council install the required road safety measures.”

Perth and Kinross Council has agreed to lower speed limits on the town’s Forfar Road and Coupar Angus Road and insisted it is working to implement further traffic calming measures “as quickly as possible”. But residents are unhappy at the pace of change – and have accused officials of ignoring their wishes.

They previously hit out after local authority jobsworths branded the police scarecrows “illegal” and removed them.

Steven, who has four other children with wife Sara, 36, told The Sunday Post he was now focused on the charity the family has launched in memory of their “precious angel”, Harlow’s Helping Hand.

“It aims to help bereaved families who have lost a child with funeral or headstone costs,” he said.

“We hope to be able to help alleviate some of the stress from as many grieving families as possible and welcome any and all support in our fundraising endeavours.”

Family friend Jimmy Harris called on the council to take swift action to make the road where Harlow was killed safer.

The 40-year-old threatened a guerrilla parking campaign if progress wasn’t made in the next few weeks – with staggered cars parked on either side of the street in order to slow vehicles down.

Jimmy, who lives next door to the Edwards family, vowed: “If work doesn’t get started I would personally be willing to do a [partial] road block.

“I’m giving them a few weeks to come back with an answer.

“The whole thing is stupid.”

The taxi operator also demanded the authority return the original police dummies.

A council spokesman confirmed the scarecrows would be returned if villagers contacted them directly.

Councillor John Kellas, convener of the enterprise and infrastructure committee, said: “The first part of the changes, which involve an extension of the school-time 20mph limit on Forfar Road and an extension of the 30mph on Coupar Angus Road, were approved by the committee on March 8.

“The council will now begin the formal process of changing the speed limits.

“We will continue to work with the community on further traffic calming measures as quickly as possible.”

Inspector Ray Cuthill, of Police Scotland’s Tayside road policing unit, said “days of action” were planned in Coupar Angus to highlight road safety concerns.