A YOUNG man was airlifted to hospital with serious injuries last night after his car smashed into a tree in Aberdeenshire.
It happened on the A944 Westhill to Alford road, near Sauchen, and left the driver trapped in his silver Renault Clio.
And in another accident yesterday, two woman were taken to hospital after being run down by the same car in Huntly.
Both were struck by a green Jaguar X-Type near the town’s Bogie Bridge.
In the crash near Sauchen, which happened at around 6.20pm, firefighters used hydraulic cutting equipment to free the casualty within 30 minutes and left him in the care of paramedics.
Medical staff treated the driver, who is in his 20s, before he was taken by an RAF Sea King helicopter to Aberdeen Royal Infirmary.
The crash happened during heavy rainfall, on a bend close to a dip in the road, in an area known locally as an accident blackspot.
A specialist investigator joined traffic police officers at the scene around 8pm last night and began taking measurements and photographs.
Meanwhile the wreckage of the car, which was badly mangled, sat beside the tree just off the main road.
A local resident described hearing a loud bang, and instinctively knew right away that there had been a crash.
He said: “There have been so many similar incidents in the area that, unfortunately, we are getting used to what a car crash sounds like.
“When I ran along the road – I am a qualified first aider – I was ready to help out, but there was a doctor and nurse there already.
“It is the second time that I am aware of that the tree has been hit by a car. A red van crashed into it a couple of months ago – you can still see the red paint on it.
“Just along the road there was another car ended up upside down and the woman driver had to be cut free from her seatbelt.”
Police closed a section of the road, between Craigenlow Quarry and Kirkwood, for several hours after the accident.
Three fire crews, two from Aberdeen’s North Anderson Drive station, and one from Alford, were deployed to the incident.
After they had freed the casualty, they made the area safe for other emergency personnel. Police kept the road closed to allow investigations to be carried out prior to the wrecked car’s removal.
Just two weeks ago, a man was injured when his car left the road close to where last night’s accident happened. His blue Nissan Micra ended up in a nearby field, and he was taken to ARI with minor injuries.
It happened just two days after a woman’s car overturned on the A944, between Dunecht and Sauchen. She was taken to hospital with head injuries.