Rural road safety campaign launch

The sister of a teenager killed in a crash on a country road is backing a new campaign urging drivers to slow down on rural routes.

Claire Mackenzie’s brother Scott died aged 17 when he was a passenger in a car which was being driven too fast and crashed on a bend in Caithness in December 2008. The driver was jailed for two years and eight months and banned from driving for ten years.

A new Scottish Government and Road Safety Scotland campaign film uses 360 degree technology to position the viewer as the driver in a car and highlights many of the unexpected hazards on country roads that can turn a familiar journey into a potentially fatal one.

Six in ten road deaths in Scotland occur on country routes. In 2016 – the latest year for which figures are available – 789 people were killed or seriously injured while driving in rural areas.

Ms Mackenzie, 36, from Wick, said: “As we approach the ten-year anniversary of Scott’s death, I look at his friends who are now married and have kids and it pains me to think that Scott isn’t still here and able to enjoy his own life too.

“The driver didn’t go out with the intention to kill my brother, but he did.

“Think before you put your foot down because nobody ever wants to have that knock on their door to say a loved one isn’t coming home.”