A heartbroken mother has backed calls for new safety measures to be put in place on a notorious Fife road.
For more than two years Margaret MacMillan, 67, has watched her daughter Fiona lie in a hospital bed having sustained serious brain damage in a car crash on the A92 near Freuchie.
The 32-year-old mother-of-one now lives in Glenrothes Hospital and is capable of only the smallest movements, requiring a team of staff to ensure her daily wellbeing.
It is a far cry from the bubbly girl that Margaret, a retired lecturer who lives just yards from the hospital building, remembers.
“People don’t understand the consequences of road accidents it’s the aftermath,” she told The Courier.
“People die in road accidents and that is awful, but there is some closure.
“But when people don’t die, they are often unable to do anything for themselves.
“Fiona is not paralysed but she cannot do anything.”
Fiona, then 30, had been driving her former partner to Ladybank when her Toyota Yaris collided with another vehicle near the Bridgend Garage in Freuchie.
Though unable to determine the precise circumstances surrounding the crash on August 15 2012, police told Margaret there was no evidence of speeding or mechanical failure, and that Fiona was most likely to blame for the incident.
However, following a recent spate of high-profile accidents near the same spot in recent weeks, Mrs MacMillan contacted The Courier, adding her weight to calls for improved safety measures on the stretch.
Keen to highlight the daily legacy of her daughter’s accident, Margaret said that she would welcome any measures that could slow down traffic on the A92 and prevent others from undergoing the same experience as her family.
She continued: “The police said they didn’t know if she had been wearing a seatbelt they could never be sure but she was thrown out of the side of the car by the force of the airbag.
“She then had a cardiac arrest, but the police were there within minutes and able to resuscitate her.”
She was taken to Edinburgh’s Western General where she would remain for five months, at one point kept alive by 17 separate machines.
Now living within an offshoot of the Sir George Sharp Unit in Glenrothes Hospital, Fiona is joined by her mother for four-and-a-half hours every day.
Although unable to respond, Margaret continues to speak to Fiona, watch television, and stroke her hand, a daily routine to be repeated for the rest of their lives.
“On the Glasgow Coma Scale, people are normally at 15,” Margaret continued.
“Fiona was at three when she was taken to hospital, which is about as low as you can be while still being alive. Today she is only around nine or ten.”
Margaret’s story has emerged following a high-profile public meeting in Glenrothes last week on the safety of the A92.
Fife Council leader David Ross has backed calls for improvements to the route, while representatives of Transport Scotland and BEAR Scotland, which maintain the road, have installed new signs and painted new lines recently.
Asked what she would like to see, Margaret added: “I think roundabouts would help, particularly at Cadham.
“A huge roundabout complex at Balfarg, or traffic lights as well. Something to slow people down.”