YOUR VIEWS: A9 dualling will benefit the Highlands – sooner or later

Dualling will be of benefit however long it takes

Regarding a letter in The Courier a few weeks ago about dualling the A9, the letter questioned the validity of such a commitment. Among the reasons cited were of course, cost, but the most baffling reason I’ve ever heard of was that by the time the whole A9 might be dualled, those of us alive just now, will probably be dead. If we took that opinion in life, we should never strive to improve anything. Imagine if the decision makers had taken that approach to improving the A9 to what we have today. We’d still be driving on a single track. Some parts of the old A9 are still visible in places, so you can see it would be woefully inadequate for our needs today. Whether many of us will or will not be alive to see the completion of the A9 dualled is irrelevant. Our children and grandchildren will benefit.

The letter I refer to said you make the A9 safer by getting rid of unsafe drivers. One of the main problems on single carriageways are the drivers insisting on driving at 35-45 mph. This is way below the legal limit. Whilst I understand that not everyone is comfortable or confident to drive at 60mph (obviously, when road conditions allow), I will never understand the arrogance of individuals that don’t pull over to allow traffic to pass safely.

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Time and time again I witness drivers caught in a line of traffic taking chances by overtaking as many cars as they can. No doubt some will say these people shouldn’t overtake. That’s simply not practical. Many of us completely understand the frustration caused by people tootling along, either oblivious to the queue they’re causing, or they’re too arrogant or ignorant to respect the Highway Code no.169, which states “do not hold up a long queue of traffic, especially if you are driving a large or slow-moving vehicle. Check your mirrors frequently and pull in where it is safe and let traffic pass”.

It is also ridiculous to impose 50mph on lorries on single carriageways where the legal limit is 60mph for most other vehicles. Again, this causes tailbacks and risk taking. The majority of drivers insist on driving far too close to the vehicle in front. This adds further risk to those overtaking, because it’s not so easy for them to slot back into the queue. Any accident caused by this behaviour will not only impact the person overtaking, but all those in the vicinity. Dualling the A9 will enable the traffic to continue flowing regardless of slow-moving vehicles refusing to pull over.

Reference was also made to the hold ups for drivers due to roadworks during any dualling. As irritating as it is to be held up at roadworks, it’s a necessary evil for the safety of everyone using the A9 and for the good of the Highlands and I, for one, very much look forward to the day it’s done...assuming I live that long!

Ginette Playle

Glen Urquhart

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