The A9 is a single lane highway, with broken white lines down the middle for most of its length. The main villages are by-passed by stretches of dual carriageway, allowing drivers to overtake slower vehicles. The A9, in UK parlance referred to as a trunk road, passes the grand total of just over a dozen villages along its width, and passes through otherwise featureless moorland, surrounded by rounded hills and distant mountains. It allows people to either doze off behind the wheel, or get worked up behind that slow lorry, caravan or what have you, tempting them into dangerous overtaking manoeuvres.
Dualling the road will not reduce the accident rate to zero, but should at least enhance safety.
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It sounds like a scenic road, passing is always a bad idea unless one has a very good clear field of vision. One of "my" intersections I have to go through was a death trap, it had a very high rate of accidents. They changed everything & installed a traffic light - the first week after the change there were three accidents. Sometimes nothing helps when people go 60+ miles an hour through a busy intersection.
ReplyDeleteLisa
We've got a two lane highway that goes east between Seattle and Tacoma, heading for a mountain pass. The speed limit is most of the time 55 mph and at other times up to 60 mph, and of course everyone goes over the speed limit. Highway 18 has long been called "Blood Alley." So many accidents, so many deaths along that route over the years. Finally in the last couple years the State Highway Department has decided to start wideing this horrible stretch of highway. Hopefully they will get it done before too many more are injured or killed. Linda in Washington state
ReplyDeleteEven the street called a highway near my home is hmmm, 2 turn lanes plus 2 going straight, on both sides......... then again, I don't get quite that rural setting that is so beautiful in your photos:)
ReplyDeleteThe A9 has to be a dual carriageway its entire length, it is a road where too many take chances overtaking and speeding, thus causing accidents.......I am sure you will find the accident rate will come down big time cos the accidents are caused by the overtaking the majority of the time. Plus if it is dualled it will give the opportunity for a service station to open and allow drivers to have a break from the monotony of the road despite it being very picturesque.
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