Firefighters had to cut the roof off a car yesterday to rescue its driver from the wreckage of the latest crash at a Highland blackspot.
Police said the injuries suffered by the driver of the Vauxhall Vectra were not thought to be life threatening.
However, the accident has reignited calls for urgent action to be taken to re-route a twisty stretch of the A9 with a long record of serious crashes.
The collision with a Network Rail van blocked the main Inverness-Thurso road for several hours either side of the Cambusavie bends near Dornoch in Sutherland.
It happened shortly after 3pm, prompting police diversions for southbound traffic onto the A839 towards Lairg, northbound towards Skelbo.
Three local fire crews attended the scene, along with the police and ambulance services.
The trapped driver was released about an hour later. Details of the extent of his injuries were not given.
East Sutherland and Edderton councillor Jim McGillivray last night called for the Cambusavie bends to be given the same importance as the notorious Berriedale Braes in Caithness, where a radical re-routing has been approved.
He said: “It’s a stretch of road I avoid whenever possible. Something needs to be done. It’s an increasingly busy road.
“With the advent of the North Coast 500 tourist project, combined with the peak tourist season, it’s even busier and there are regular – almost monthly – serious accidents.”
In April last year, a motorcyclist was airlifted to hospital from the Cambusavie bends to be treated for serious head injuries.
Another biker was flown from the location to hospital in August 2013 after a collision involving two motorcycles and a lorry.
In 2008, the then Liberal Democrat MSP Jamie Stone – now a councillor – renewed the call for urgent improvements to be carried out at the Dornoch accident spot.
The Scottish Government confirmed in March that a long-awaited improvement scheme would finally get underway at the Berriedale Braes next year. It is scheduled for completion by late 2019.