It is hoped that a new speed reactive sign on a busy road will help reduce speeding and prevent accidents.

Tranent and Elphinstone Community Council and Fa’side Area Partnership have partnered with East Lothian Council to have a speed reactive sign installed on Tranent’s Church Street.

The sign flashes as vehicles pass, informing drivers of their speed and advising them to slow down if they are over the 20mph speed limit on the road.

It comes after members of the public had been in touch with the community council raising concerns about speeding on the road, which leads from the centre of the town to the Bankton Junction of the A1.

Mike Falconer, chair of the community council, said: “Tranent and Elphinstone Community Council and Fa’side Area Partnership are pleased to be able to support our local communities.

“You said ‘speeding is an issue on Church Street, Tranent’, and we have worked together to install a new speed reactive sign there, using the roads element of area partnership funding.

“This measure is designed to encourage drivers to slow down and keep to the speed limit. We ask drivers to stick to the speed limit and keep your local community safe.

“We will continue to look at measures which will help to address this issue in Church Street and elsewhere in Tranent and Elphinstone.”

Speaking to the Courier, Mr Falconer said that he hoped the sign would help reduce speeding throughout the town.

He said: “This has been an issue for a while and people are rightly concerned that an accident might not be far away.

“There is only so much we can do to prevent speeding as a community council. This is about driver behaviour as much as anything else, and we hope this will help make drivers aware of their speed and slow them down.”