A9, A96 and A82 casualty toll exceeds 1500 between 2020 and 2024 including 81 deaths and 556 seriously injured as pressure mounts on the Scottish Government
The toll on Highland trunk roads remains high with more than 1500 casualties and 81 deaths on the A9, A96 and A82 between 2020 and 2024.
The numbers come as the tourist season is well under way bringing with it a huge wave of additional traffic.
Transport Scotland figures for the three main Highland trunk roads reflect that national picture of an increase in deaths but a fall in casualties overall.
Figures for the three main trunk roads between 2020 and 2024 show: 81 people have died, 556 were seriously injured, totalling 1503, including slight injuries.
That equates to almost three casualties (injured or killed) for every mile of road and just over 25 per month, despite significant Transport Scotland efforts and hundreds of millions spent on improvements.
They include works at incident hotspots like the A9/A835 Tore roundabout could get speed limit reductions and right turns could be halted at the Munlochy junction.
But much of the ire over the failures to deliver the A9 and A96 has rested on the shoulders of Nicola Sturgeon’s government which failed to prioritise the dualling.
And those deaths and injuries are of primary importance in next year’s Holyrood elections due to the failure to deliver huge improvement programmes.
The death toll on the A9, A96 and A82 from 2020 to 2024:
The botched schemes to dual A9 and A96 are perceived as government failings that are emblematic of political failings as a whole and they come with a death toll.
The A9 dualling from Inverness-Perth should have been finished this year but has been delayed by a decade to 2035 while the A96 is in an even more chaotic state.
The total for the A9, A96 and A82 from 2020-2024:
When the Greens were in government, they pursued the A96 corridor review, which tried to water down the full dualling promise to bypasses for Elgin and Keith.
When the public were consulted on that - the results were released last month - locals were not surprised that 63 per cent of respondents preferred full dualling.
Meanwhile, the A82 has three times more casualties than the A96 but there is no overarching safety project such as dualling on the cards - perhaps fuelling the ‘forgotten road’ label.
The Transport Scotland figures come from their central database of injury collisions known to Police Scotland with casualties covering both trunk and non-trunk road sections.
The casualty toll on the A9 from 2020-2024:
Looking at the risks to road users, the A9 runs from Scrabster Harbour near Thurso to just south of Dunblane and is Scotland’s longest road at just over 247 miles.
The casualty toll on the A96 from 2020-2024:
The A96 runs 102 miles from Inverness through the centre of Nairn, through Moray bypassing Elgin all the way to central Aberdeen, much of it through undulating and winding farmland.
The casualty toll on the A82 from 2020-2024:
And the A82 snakes from Inverness via Loch Ness through Fort William then on to Glen Coe, down the side of Loch Lomond to Glasgow running for 167 miles.
On the A82 schemes like Crianlarich to Pulpit Rock saw just over £14 million spent while there are plans to improve safety and journey time from Tarbet and Inverarnan.
But that would happen after improvements at the Rest and be Thankful to limit disruption, Transport Scotland confirmed.
The Scottish Government still says it wants to fully dual the A96 and land has been acquired for the Inverness to Nairn, including a Nairn Bypass, section - the timetable for delivery is dependent on available budgets.
Since 2007 more than £377 million has been spent on maintenance and safety of the A9 and Transport Scotland anticipates 50 per cent of the A9 between Perth and Inverness will be dual carriageway by the end of 2030, 85 per cent by the end of 2033 and 100 per cent by the end of 2035.
Inverness and Nairn MSP Fergus Ewing said: “Over this past four years I have incessantly pressed the Scottish Government to deliver their long standing promise to fund safer roads for the Highlands.
“As a result , there cannot be any single MSP who is unaware of this issue - or that it’s a matter of life and death.
“I have worked with colleagues in all the main parties and I hope each of them make unequivocal promises in their party manifestos next year to see the A9 and A96 dualled and improve the A82
“There is a cross party consensus which I want to cement and build upon. All but the Greens support this. As an independent voice I will continue to raise these life and death issues.”
Inverness, Skye and West Ross-shire MP Angus MacDonald knows the A82 well as he lives in Lochaber, he said: “Highland roads have been ignored relative to those in the central belt.
“The A82 is the gateway to the Highlands and Islands, imagine being a tourist arriving in Glasgow and meeting the farce alongside Loch Lomond with coaches and trucks unable to pass with miles of frustrated drivers behind them.
“The Chief Executive of Transport Scotland Alison Irvine said the upgrading the A82 wasn’t ‘a political imperative’. I’m amazed the deaths and accident stats aren’t far worse actually.”
A Transport Scotland spokesperson said: “Our sympathies are with the families and friends of those who have lost loved ones and those who have been injured on Scotland’s roads.
“One death on our roads is one too many. That is why road safety is a top priority for the Scottish Government and we remain fully committed to our goal of making Scotland’s roads the safest in the world by 2030.
"In this financial year, we have increased our road safety budget to a record £48 million.
“This will help fund safety improvements on both trunk roads and local roads, support high profile campaigns to raise awareness of key issues like speeding, seatbelts and drink/drug driving, as well as advancing the use of technology aimed at making our roads safer.
"These figures are a stark reminder of the challenge we face, but we cannot do it alone and need the cooperation and support of road users across the country.”
