Exclusive:'Matter of life and death': SNP ministers told to urgently dual A1 road out of Edinburgh

There have been 134 injuries after collisions on the A1 between Edinburgh and Lamberton since 2021/22. This includes six fatalities and 42 people who were seriously injured.

The figures show there were a total of 22 injury collisions in 2024/25, including seven classed as serious. In 2023/24, there were 37 injury collisions, including two fatalities and ten serious incidents.

In 2022/23, there were 47 collisions, including three fatalities and 16 serious incidents, and in 2021/22 there were 28 incidents, including one fatality and nine classed as serious.

The Scottish Conservatives have said the “alarming” casualty toll on the main east coast route out of Scotland showed why the road needed to be upgraded as a matter of urgency.

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Sue Webber, the party’s transport spokeswoman, said First Minister John Swinney must now commit to fully dualling the road north of the Border as soon as possible.

She said: “These figures are deeply alarming and they illustrate the urgent need for the SNP Government to act. Every day that passes without this road being upgraded is putting more lives at risk.

“The SNP can’t keep ignoring this issue and hope it goes away. This is a matter of life and death.

“Dualling the A1 would make it far safer, so John Swinney should show some common sense and commit to doing so.

“Sadly, the SNP’s track record on upgrading Scotland’s trunk roads is atrocious.

“The Scottish Conservatives are the only party standing up for motorists and demanding that key roads are upgraded for the safety of those using them and to boost our economy.”

The plea comes just days after the Tories said they would fast-track the dualling of the A75 on the west coast if they were in charge in Holyrood.

There have been at least five deaths on the A75 between Gretna and Stranraer this year.

The single carriageway road, which is nearly 100 miles long, links the M6 with Cairnryan, from where Stena Line and P&O operate to Belfast and Larne.

Transport Scotland last year announced work on options to bypass the last villages on the road - Springholm and Crocketford - thanks to funding from the UK government, even though it is not responsible for roads in Scotland.

The Scottish Conservatives have also heavily criticised the Government in recent years for the ten-year delays and significant cost overruns of the A9 dualling project between Perth and Inverness.

Transport Scotland revealed in June that drivers would face more than 40 miles of roadworks on the A9 between Perth and Inverness when dualling work reaches its peak.

Work is ongoing to complete the hugely delayed dualling project by its new deadline of 2035.

A spokesman for Transport Scotland said: “Road safety is a top priority for the Scottish Government and that is why we are investing a record £48 million this budgetary year.

“The second strategic transport projects review did not recommend any major upgrades to the A1, instead targeting investments to ensure the trunk road network remains safe, resilient and adapted to deal with the impacts of climate change.”