Almost £1 million has been spent on minor A9 improvements to cut the spiralling death toll on Scotland’s deadliest road.
Improved signs, road markings and high friction surfacing have been placed at blackspots in a bid to reduce the risks.
The Courier has long backed calls for the road to be dualled in its entirety between Perth and Inverness.
However, at an estimated cost of up to £4 billion the work is being done in stages and could take decades to complete.
In the meantime, the road layout is consistently blamed for the appalling loss of life.
Each accident is individually investigated and Transport Scotland said it is learning lessons from them.
A spokeswoman said, “Road safety is of paramount importance to Transport Scotland. Safer road design, improved speed management, continued maintenance and a better provision for vulnerable road users are amongst the steps being taken to reduce numbers of injuries and fatalities on Scotland’s roads.”
She said the organisation assesses the safety performance of the entire trunk road network annually by screening all locations at which three or more accidents have occurred in the preceding three-year period.
Further investigations are carried out and where appropriate, mitigation measures are prioritised and installed.
She said, “This ensures that the limited funding available can be targeted at those locations that provide the greatest accident savings.”
Among the measures put in place in Perthshire are speed activated signs at the Bankfoot junction, high friction surfacing at Dalwhinnie and Birnam and improved countdown markers at Ballinluig.Accidents£500,000 has been spent on signing improvements on the A9 from Blair Atholl to north of Tore Roundabout on the Black Isle since 2006.
Three people have died this year in accidents on the A9 between Perth and Inverness — 13 were killed on the same stretch last year.
A little over one-quarter of the 177km route is dualled, and work is ongoing to widen a 3km stretch at Crubenmore.
Provision for A9 work is included in the Strategic Transport Projects Review in two phases.
The first, costing between £500 million and £1 billion, includes completing the dualling between Perth and Blair Atholl, creating grade separated junctions at Kier, Broxden and Inveralmond roundabouts and climbing lanes and junction improvements between Blair Atholl and Inverness.
Phase two, worth £1.5 to £3 billion, would see the length between Blair Atholl and Aviemore dualled.
Detailed planning and design to develop options for dualling the section between Luncarty and the Pass of Birnam has been done for when funding becomes available.
Design work on the adjacent northern section between the Pass of Birnam and the Jubilee Bridge is now also taking place.
The spokeswoman said, “The Scottish Government is committed to improving safety on the A9.
“Since 2007, over £50m has been invested in safety and structural improvements on this vital link between Perth and Inverness alone. This includes the phased dualling of A9 from Perth to Inverness as funds become available and is currently progressing design work on sections north of Perth.”
An online petition calling for the entire road to be dualled has attracted more than 10,000 signatures.