Priority: North’s top cop has eye on road safety

The north’s divisional commander said yesterday that road safety was the police’s top priority.

Chief superintendent Julian Innes also said that speed did not appear to be an issue in any of the recent fatal accidents in the Highlands and islands.

He said: “It’s been a really bad few days in relation to collisions on the road. Three people have lost their lives, one up in Shetland, one in the north and then on the A9 at Aviemore.

“It’s particularly distressing for everybody involved and the emergency services and my thoughts are in particular with the families of those who have lost their lives.

“The safety of the roads remains the number one priority across the Highlands and islands.”

“It’s too early for me to discuss the actual detail of each of these three collisions over the last few days.

“But a quick review of the circumstances by the management team here, we don’t know if the police could have done anything differently to prevent these accidents occurring.” He added: “It is unfortunate but people do make mistakes and these mistakes sometimes prove fatal.

“I have no doubt that once we’ve fully investigated these collisions somebody will be to blame.

“They’re not accidents, they’re a collision which probably could have been avoided with a different set of circumstances.”

He added: “Inquiries are ongoing and thorough investigations will be conducted into all three collisions.

“However, my assessment of all three at this stage is that speed was not a factor.”

Julian Innes