Tayside roads policing inspector believes dualling the A9 would save lives

dailyrecord.co.uk:

A Tayside road policing inspector has said he believes dualling the A9 would reduce the number of the fatalities on the route.In February the Scottish Government said the £3 billion project to dual the section between Perth and Inverness would not be completed by 2025.The news came after 13 people were killed last year in eight road traffic collisions on the 112-mile stretch of the A9.At a council committee this week Bailie Chris Ahern asked a local roads policing inspector if dualling the A9 would help reduce accidents and the number of fatalities.The Perth City Centre Conservative councillor raised the issue during a presentation on road safety at Perth and Kinross Council's Housing and Social Wellbeing Committee on Wednesday, March 15.Inspector Greg Burns of Tayside's Road Policing Unit said: "Certainly from the [2022] stats there's not been any on the dual carriageway section.

We're still going to have drivers that have lapses in concentration, make mistakes and have a collision. Can I forecast if they are going to have a fatality?

I can't unfortunately. But my own personal opinion is if we had a dual carriageway section all the way up it would certainly reduce the likelihood of fatalities there."Convener SNP councillor Tom McEwan told Bailie Ahern: "I agree with you completely.

The dualling of the A9 is a hugely important infrastructure project in Perth and Kinross and Highland that needs to be expedited as soon as resources make that possible."Highland Perthshire Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) station commander Joe Fitzpatrick said frustration caused by a vehicle stuck behind something on a single carriageway section was a cause of accidents.He said: "Typically on the A9 accidents are happening because