THE Scottish Government was under fire last night after it emerged a ministerial chauffeur was caught speeding in a 50mph zone near a north-east accident blackspot.
The driver was snapped by a fixed camera on the A90 Aberdeen-Dundee road at Laurencekirk – an area where campaigners have been fighting for a flyover since 2004 to improve road safety.
The Volvo S80, which was heading south after dropping off an unnamed minister, was driven by a chauffeur who has been caught speeding three times since 2011.
Official records show that First Minister Alex Salmond, MSP for Aberdeenshire East, former environment minister Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banffshire and Buchan Coast, and Rural Affairs Secretary Richard Lochhead, MSP for Moray, were on official business that day – November 25, 2011.
Jill Fotheringham, who has been campaigning for a flyover at the junction of the A90 and A937 Laurencekirk-Montrose road, said she was shocked because the government had repeatedly claimed the existing road safety measures in the area were adequate and a flyover was not needed.
“I am disgusted and absolutely appalled by this and Transport Minister Keith Brown should hang his head in shame given the government’s attitude to a flyover,” she said.
“This is the ultimate kick in the teeth for people in the north-east.
“The government claims it is monitoring the situation and yet one of its own drivers has gone speeding through a 50mph zone.
“Local people will be angry because the government have said time and time again the 50mph zone is working, but how can it be?”
A spokeswoman for the Scottish Government – which said improvements to the A90 had resulted in no fatal or otherwise serious accidents at the southern junction to the town since 2005 – said it took road safety “very seriously”.
She added that the diver in question had completed an intensive advanced motorist training course.
But the government’s explanation was dismissed by road safety campaigners.
North-east Labour MSP Richard Baker said: “It is must be particularly galling for those who have campaigned for this junction to be made safer that ministers have played down these concerns and refused to act, only for one of their own cars to be caught speeding there.”
Peter Argyle, chairman of regional transport partnership Nestrans, said: “It is entirely wrong that anybody should be speeding in a 50mph zone and I can understand that campaigners will find it extremely galling it was a government driver.”
The councillor, convener of Aberdeenshire Council’s infrastructure services committee, said he was personally in favour of a flyover being built.
The Conservatives, Liberal Democrats and the Institute of Advanced Motorists claimed the incident reinforced the campaigners’ case because the speed cameras on the route, installed in 2005, were clearly not working.
North-east Lib Dem MSP Alison McInnes said: “This incident demonstrates the futility of the Scottish Government continuing to insist that this junction isn’t inherently unsafe.”
North-east Tory MSP Alex Johnstone, who said the speed cameras were only supposed to be a temporary measure, added: “It indicates to me that we need radical action to make that junction more safe on a permanent basis.”
Neil Greig, of the Institute of Advanced Motorists, said successive governments had improved the A90 and building a flyover at Laurencekirk should be a “top priority” for SNP ministers.
“This incident underlines the fact it is an artificial speed limit there and if you are not paying attention to the signs it is just like an normal dual carriageway,” he said.
“It shows that people can still go through that junction at high speeds.”
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