COUNCILLORS LEAD CALLS TO IMPROVE DEADLY ROAD AFTER MAN DIES IN NORTH-EAST CRASH

Courtesy of the Evening Express

Councillors want safety improvements on the B999

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Calls have been made today to improve safety on a deadly rural road after a man died in a crash.

Mark Wood, 38, died following a collision involving a Volkswagen Golf and Honda Jazz on the B999 Aberdeen to Tarves road between Pettymuick and Pitmedden Bridge on Friday, October 6.

Councillor Paul Johnston, who represents the Mid-Formartine ward, criticised the condition of the road last month. He said: “There are locations all the way along that road where past tragedies remain marked, and that is a sobering thought.

“There’s been at least five (fatalities) since I’ve been a councillor.”

Repair work has since been carried out after those incidents, but Cllr Johnston would like to see additional safety measures.

He added: “There have been requests for better reflectors on the road and crash barriers.”

Between 2000 and 2014 there were 10 fatal accidents on the road.

In 2009, a 55-year-old van driver was killed on the Aberdeen to Tarves road, and in 2007 a 34-year-old man died on the Bridge of Don to Pitmedden stretch when his car crashed at a junction a few miles west of Potterton.

A teenager also died in a smash on the road the same year.

In 2006, a 46-year-old biker died after his vehicle left the road, in 2003 a 30-year-old woman lost her life in a one-vehicle crash and in 2002, three people died following collisions on the road.

Fellow ward councillor Andrew Hassan added: “I was saddened to hear about the fatal accident.

“In recent years there have been fewer road accidents in Mid-Formartine but it’s a reminder, if we need one, that accidents happen on our roads and if any measures can be put in place to address blackspots I would hope that would be considered by officers.”

Aberdeenshire Council’s infrastructure services committee chairman Councillor Peter Argyle said: “Whenever these things happen it’s obviously an appalling tragedy.

“The police and council spend a lot of time looking at what caused the accident and if there are things that can be done in terms of engineering or other measures, I have no doubt that will be something that we will be looking at.”


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