A90 death prompts calls for reviews

A fatal crash on the A90 has triggered calls for a safety review.

Minibus driver Joyce Gardiner was killed in a collision with a lorry near St Madoes last month. The 60-year-old, from Scone, died at the scene, while the HGV driver and two bus passengers were rushed to hospital.

Transport Scotland is being pressed to consider action for the busy Perth-to-Dundee stretch.

Angus Forbes, Conservative councillor for Carse of Gowrie, has asked for a meeting with Scottish Government officials to discuss the state of the route and any safety measures that could be taken.

However, the trunk roads authority has said the route was reviewed with police chiefs last week and they were satisfied the road lay-out was not a factor in the crash.

Mr Forbes said: “A quick look at the Crashmaps website tells me that there were 41 accidents on this road in the most recent five year-period, some of them fatalities.”

He also raised concerns about diversions after closures for emergencies.

He said: “The other issue that came out of the most recent fatality was that drivers appear to ignore the signed diversion, which I believe was back to Dundee...Instead they used the C-class roads to the north of the A90, and one lorry became lodged in the middle of Rait village as a result.”

A Transport Scotland spokesman said: “As police investigations into this accident are ongoing it would be inappropriate to comment further at this time.

“However, as part of standard procedure we met with Police Scotland and our operating company on Friday, February 22, where it was confirmed that the road layout did not contribute to this tragic accident.”