Huntly to Aberdeen A96 section has one of trunk road's highest five-year serious injury rates
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THE A96 stretch linking Huntly to Aberdeen was one of the worst parts of the road for causing serious injuries over the last five years, we can reveal.
New figures, released following a Grampian Online Freedom of Information Request, show that 29 were seriously injured in crashes on the 32-mile section since 2019.
Huntly to Aberdeen had the highest serious injury rate over the last five years, of all A96 sections where dualling pledges are at risk from the ongoing review.
Released by Transport Scotland, the new figures show how many serious injuries and deaths occurred each year on different sections of the A96.
Between Inverness and Aberdeen, since 2019, 11 people have lost their lives and 82 have been seriously injured.
By charting the numbers against the length of each section, we have worked out the rate of injuries and deaths along the A96 for each full year, and the average yearly rate over the five years from 2019 to August 2023.
The only section with a worse serious injury rate, during the same time period, was the Inverness to Nairn section – which had the highest five-yearly rate of combined serious injuries and deaths.
Scottish Government plans exclude the Highland stretch from the ongoing review of A96 dualling which, earlier this month, we revealed would face further delays and would now be released "in the coming months".
First Minister Humza Yousaf, who promised to stick to bypass pledges while talking to Grampian Online during a visit to Moray, revealed no details of the A96 dualling project's future within his Programme for Government speech.
Despite nobody being killed on the road since before 2019, the Huntly to Aberdeen stretch had the third-worst yearly serious injury rate of any A96 section in 2021 – when 10 people were seriously injured.
That is excluding projected yearly figures for 2023, as data was only available up to August this year.
Taking first place in the grim one-year rankings, however, is the A96 section spanning Forres and Elgin.
In 2019 alone, four people were killed and nine seriously injured in collisions along the 26.5 mile section between Wester Hardmuir and Fochabers, according to the new figures.
The rate of those killed or seriously injured per kilometre during that year was 80 per cent higher than the five-year average between Inverness and Aberdeen.
Plans to dual the Wester Hardmuir to Fochabers section by 2030 are, like Huntly to Aberdeen, currently in limbo – subject to the A96 Corridor Review.
Questioned on the A96 dualling at a (September 19) meeting of the Scottish Parliament's transport committee, transport minister Fiona Hyslop said the government's "priority" is "the Inverness to Nairn section".
Pushed on the timescales for the dualling of the A96 by North East Scotland MSP Douglas Lumsden, Ms Hyslop could not stick to the Scottish Government's 2030 pledge.
She said: “I think the sensible thing is to see what the review says in terms of the assessments of the options because clearly whatever options are then recommended, will have an impact in terms of the timescale for production of that, as will the capital availability for that.
“Currently the proposal is to dual the A96 with the priority being the Inverness to Nairn section.”
She added: “Clearly we want to meet timescales that have been committed to.
“We are talking about timescales from 2011 coming out of a period which is 12 years ago. I understand all governments need to be held accountable.
“This government has been in power for a considerable amount of time. We have had focus on a number of major transport areas. The review has taken place and you will receive that once the assessment has been done.”
Mr Lumsden, also the shadow cabinet secretary for transport, said the "horrifying" figures released through out FOI request were a "damning indictment" of uncertainty over the future of A96 dualling.
“It’s glaringly and shamefully obvious from the transport minister’s response at committee that there is no intention to dual the A96 between Aberdeen and Huntly or build a bypass at Inverurie and Keith," he said.
“She openly admitted that the Inverness to Nairn section was more of a priority and during the SNP’s time in government, they’ve been more focussed on other projects which is a kick in the teeth to North East residents.
“The A96 figures are horrifying and are a damning indictment of more than a decade of false promises and excuses from the SNP to avoid fully dualling the road.
“Fiona Hyslop, Humza Yousaf and the rest of the SNP Government should be ashamed of themselves for disowning communities whose lives are being put at risk on a daily basis when travelling on this dangerous road.
“On Thursday, we saw the tragic consequences of this inaction when two people were injured in a crash near Huntly resulting in an air ambulance being called.
“Enough is enough. How many more of these collisions will it take for the SNP Government to grow a backbone, stand up to the Greens and fully dual the road from Aberdeen to Inverness.”
