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Shocking crash statistics increase pressure for A9 upgrade

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The Scottish Government is under fresh pressure to immediately start upgrading the A9 after statistics showed the road has the worst fatality rate in the country, with 67 deaths in the last five years.

They show it had the highest or joint-highest death rate of all roads in 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2010.

The figures, released following a parliamentary question by Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid-Scotland and Fife, were for the whole of the A9, including the Perth to Stirling stretch.

At 273 miles, the A9 is the longest road in Scotland and the fifth-longest A-road in the UK.

On Tuesday two vehicles crashed at the Broom of Dalreoch junction and a spate of recent accidents led to the deaths of four people.

The latest fatalities happened on Friday when Mark McFarlane (38) and Barry Murray (28) were killed in a collision with a bus taking people to RockNess.

The previous Friday lorry drivers Alexander Russell (37) and John Summerville (34) were killed in a head-on crash near Calvine.

The Scottish Government has outlined its £200 million plan to dual the A9 from Perth to Inverness, with work due to begin in 2017.

However Mr Fraser, who still runs the dualtheA9.com website, said that he felt it was ”not acceptable” for one road to ”cause so many accidents” and ”so much anguish”, and called for immediate action.

”I would urge the Scottish Government to press ahead with its plans for dualling the road between Perth and Inverness as soon as possible and not wait until 2017,” he said.

“It has been confirmed that the A9 has the highest fatality rate of all roads in Scotland. It is a terrible statistic to reveal and this road continues to injure and claim too many lives every year.

“It is distressing and sad to learn that 67 lives have been lost on the A9 over the last five years and every fatal accident on this road means a family and a community having lost a loved one.”

Mr Fraser said there have also been more than 1,000 accidents on the A9 in the last five years more than one every other day.

“These statistics, and the grief for the many families and communities affected by each accident, reinforces the need for the A9 to be made up to dual carriageway as quickly as possible,” he added.

A Scottish Government spokesman said: “This Scottish Government is the only government to have committed to dualling the A9 between Perth and Inverness. We have already invested £50 million on improvements between the two cities since 2007 and will shortly announce more details of the ambitious timetable and dualling programme.

“The recent accidents on this route highlight the importance of this commitment and our thoughts go out to those who have lost loved ones on the A9 in recent weeks.

“As local MSPs are acutely aware, this Government’s plans to dual the A9 are very challenging and this represents one of the biggest infrastructure projects in Scotland’s history.

“To put the sheer scale of the project in perspective, the work involved is 16 times the length of the M74 completion. However, given our track record on delivering major projects on time and on budget, we are confident of meeting this challenge.”