COMMENT: Here’s why we need a safer A9 – and NOT more dualling
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I am dismayed at the universal cry to dual the A9 in the name of safety and economic progress, when neither will be served by dualling.
Seeing the next scheduled Moy section will cost £150m and take three years is the final straw.
£150m could make the whole stretch from Perth to Caithness the safest road in Britain, but never by constructing another paltry six miles of dual carriageway.
The A9 south is now one of the safest and best built roads in the country.
I remember when it took three to four hours to get to Perth, but now, if no construction is under way, it reliably takes two hours.
The economic benefits of a fast road have been felt.
Spending £150m on the Moy section will reduce that time by one to two minutes. Based on previous experience the construction work will add 10 to 30 minutes per journey for three years. So it will be at least 15 years before our time spent travelling to Perth will have been reduced.
If the whole A9 was dualled, everybody alive today who travels regularly will spend more time doing so, not less, so if you accept the economic arguments for faster roads, the Highlands will be worse off, and not better off for generations.
So why do it?
It must be to prevent those terrible accidents.
When driving to Perth, I have only ever needed to use my brakes in earnest when another driver drives carelessly, usually breaking the law.
And that happens every journey.
The average speed controls are not enforced, there are not enough traffic police and selfish driving that puts others at risk is rife.
Cameras, drones and police officers should operate a zero tolerance for drivers who break the law — especially speeding and driving dangerously.
It is easy to spot the likely accident causers, it just needs millions to be invested in policing the road properly.
But not as much as £150m.
We need the A9 investment to create labour intensive high paid jobs to de-risk driving on the A9 and beyond.
Indeed, if we remove those selfish drivers all our roads will be safer, bad driving is not unique to the A9.
Fewer accidents mean less pressure on Raigmore, fewer road closures and most importantly fewer lives ruined by injury and death on the roads.
We must adopt the same zero tolerance of unsafe driving as in the workplace.
In industry you don’t reduce accidents by making unsafe practices less dangerous, you train everyone to work safely first.
Peter Young
North Kessock
(From the letters page of the Ross-shire Journal)
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