NEW safety measures have been unveiled to help cut the death toll on one of Scotland’s deadliest roads.
Aberdeenshire Council bosses want to create a series of potentially lifesaving lay-bys along the A947 Aberdeen-Banff route in an effort to cut driver frustration.
It is hoped that slow-moving vehicles such as supermarket lorries, buses and tractors, will use the halting zones and allow other traffic to pass safely.
The lay-bys were suggested to the local authority during a lengthy public consultation to investigate ways of improving safety along the 38-mile stretch.
But last night the mother of two men who died on the road said the proposal, which was put out to tender last night, did not go far enough.
Maureen Abercrombie, whose sons Gordon and Steven died in separate crashes in 2005 and 2008, insisted the only way to make the road safer was to upgrade it to a dual carriageway.
The route, which winds through Turriff, Fyvie and Oldmeldrum has been the scene of 16 fatal accidents in the last seven years.
In 2012, a £150,000 study was launched by Aberdeenshire Council to look at ways of tackling problems at bends in the road. The local authority aims to reduce the number of fatal and serious smashes by at least 40% by 2020.
Contracts for the lay-by work – earmarked for three undisclosed points – have now gone out to tender.
Ewan Wallace, the council’s head of transport, said last night: “The A947 Route Action Project has proposed the installation of three lay-bys along the route between Aberdeen and Banff.
“These works are important to allow for passing places for slow-moving vehicles and to ensure driver frustration is minimal.
“The project is currently out to tender and it is hoped that work will begin in early February.”
However, Mrs Abercrombie believes the lay-bys simply won’t be used enough to make a difference. “There is already a lay-by near Fyvie and it very rarely gets used,” she said. “It’s all very well building these areas, but the slow-moving vehicles just aren’t going to use them.
“The main problem with this road is that it has become way too busy. It might have been fine for traffic a few decades ago, but not any more. The amount of vehicles using this road now is horrendous.”
The 55-year-old, from Turriff, added: “The only way they are going to be able to address the real problems here is to make the road into a dual carriageway.”
Banff councillor John Cox, who has campaigned for a safer A947 for more than 20 years, said he too was sceptical about the proposals.
“I welcome any kind of investment which could improve safety along this route,” he said. “But my concern is that the slow-moving vehicles are just not going to use these lay-bys to let others get past.
“I think what would make a real difference is the creation of two sets of passing lanes, like they have on the A96. This would reduce frustration amongst drivers because if they were stuck behind a slow-moving lorry, they would know that soon they would reach a place where it was safe to overtake them. With the lay-bys, there will still be frustration because even if drivers know they are coming up there’s no guarantee they are going to get used.”
Nineteen speed cameras were installed at the roadside, along with improved safety signs, after consultation with police and the North-East Safety Camera Partnership.