A new internet campaign is being set up in a bid to secure safety improvements on one of Scotland’s most notorious roads.
Campaigners are set to use Facebook to demand upgrades on the A85 Perth to Crieff road following a series of devastating accidents.
In 2007 there was heartbreak in the small village of Methven after three members of the same local family were killed close to the settlement.
Two teenage girls from Crieff died in the same incident.
There was further heartache in the area just last month, when a local 19-year-old boy was killed on the route following a head-on crash a few miles from his home.
Campaigners planning to set up the Facebook campaign have been praised by Perth MSP Roseanna Cunningham.
“I am very conscious of the safety issues regarding the A85 between Perth and Crieff,” the politician said.
“There have been a number of very sad fatal accidents on the road in recent years and while some work has already been done to improve safety, accidents are still happening and there is still more that must be done.”DangersMs Cunningham said locals have every right to be concerned.
“Road safety is hugely important,” the MSP continued.
“The dangers on Scotland’s roads have been brought home very starkly with the publication of a report this week from the Road Safety Foundation.
“It suggested that one in eight A roads north of the border 12% have an ‘unacceptably high risk’ compared to one in 10 across Britain.”
Ms Cunningham pledged to do all in her power to secure road safety improvements but insisted there were indications of positive change.
“The picture is not all doom and gloom with statistics published last week which show Scotland has the lowest road casualties in 60 years,” she said.
“That is a welcome drop which continues a downward trend in recent years. That progress must continue.
“I have written, as a constituency MSP, to my colleague Stewart Stevenson, the roads minister, urging him to ensure that safety improvements remain a priority in determining where money is spent on our roads and to highlight to him the particular needs on roads in my constituency.”
Ms Cunningham also urged motorists to act responsibly, particularly when driving on rural roads.
“We must remember that road safety is not the sole responsibility of government ministers, local authorities and road engineers,” she continued.
“All who use our roads have a responsibility to drive safely, to respect speed limits and to heed warning and information signs.”