Scotland’s new transport minister has refused to confirm whether he will visit a Mearns accident blackspot ahead of his appearance at a Holyrood committee aimed at justifying the Scottish Government’s decision not to build a flyover there.
Campaigner Jill Campbell invited Keith Brown to visit the junction where the A90 meets the A937 at Laurencekirk the site of four fatalities in the last decade to illustrate the dangers of crossing the carriageway in rush-hour traffic.
However, Ms Campbell has not yet received a reply and when contacted by The Courier, Mr Brown’s office was unable to say whether a visit could be scheduled ahead of the public petitions committee meeting on January 25.
A Transport Scotland spokesperson said, “The minister will be looking at all of the issues under his new portfolio, including the Laurencekirk junction, in the coming weeks.”
When pressed on the issue, Mr Brown’s ministerial staff said the issue had not yet been dealt with as his diary secretary was on leave during the festive period.
Politicians and campaigners were angered by the Scottish Government’s decision to build grade-separated junctions at the Broxden and Inveralmond roundabouts in Perth and the Keir roundabout in Dunblane, where there were no fatal accidents in the last 10 years.
Ms Campbell, who collected an 8000-signature petition calling for similar provisions at Laurencekirk after the death of 20-year-old sailor Jamie Graham at the junction in 2004, said she felt the government had shown “a continual lack of respect for people in the north east.”
She said, “I would love to think this transport minister is the one who is going to look at the junction and see it for what it really is. But I haven’t even had an acknowledgement for my email, which makes me think he isn’t coming.
“Until Mr Brown can see what it is actually like, I don’t really think he can make a proper judgment.”
She added, “The lives of people in the north-east are just as important as those anywhere else.”
The mother-of-three said she felt as if every day drivers were edging “closer to another fatality” at the junction, which links commuters from across Angus and the Mearns with Aberdeen and Dundee.