A TEN-MILE trunk road in Fife has been named as the most dangerous in Scotland in a nationwide breakdown of accident blackspots.
The A909 Kelty-Burntisland route was responsible for 11 fatal and serious traffic collisions between 2011 and 2013 despite measuring only 9.5 miles, making it the most perilous stretch of road in Scotland and the third most dangerous in the whole of Britain.
The details emerged in the latest report by motoring charity the Road Safety Foundation.
The single-carriageway has been linked to a string of fatal collisions, including a head-on crash in early January 2012 which claimed the life of grandfather, Andrew Dobie, from Kirkcaldy. The 64-year-old was driving on the A909 near Cowdenbeath when his car struck a Suzuki coming in the opposite direction, and he died at the scene.
A month later, mother-of-two Fiona Miller, 36, was critically injured in a collision with a lorry on the road near Mossmorran. She had been travelling in the car with her four-year-old daughter and was airlifted to Edinburgh Royal Infirmary, where she later died from her injuries.
More recently, 72-year-old Mardell Dick died after the Ford Ka she was travelling in as a front seat passenger was involved in a head-on collision with a Ford Fiesta on A909 in April 2014.
The Fife road has now overtaken the A809 Bearsden-Drymen road, which was previously named as Scotland's most dangerous.
Only five trunk roads in Scotland were blacklisted as "high-risk" roads. The risk rating is calculated by comparing the frequency of road crashes resulting in death and serious injury on every stretch of road with how much traffic each road is carrying.
As well as the A809, a 12 mile stretch straddling East Dunbartonshire and Stirlingshire, the A899 Broxburn-Livingston, A935 Montrose-Brechin and A937 Laurencekirk-Montrose were also named among Scotland's most dangerous roads.
The A9, whose notoriety for crashes has led to the installation of average speed cameras between Dunblane and Inverness and £3 billion project to dual 80 miles of single-carriageway north of Perth, is actually rated among the safest. Although it has had a comparatively high number of fatal and serious crashes in the past, it is also one of Scotland's longest roads carrying far more traffic than stretches such as the A809 or A909.
The M8 Glasgow-Edinburgh motorway, Scotland's busiest road, is also among the safest with comparatively few serious or fatal crashes compared its traffic volume.
Meanwhile, the A70 between Ayr and Cumnock road is Britain's "most improved" road, according to the Road Safety Foundation.
The 8.7 mile single carriageway has almost eliminated fatal and serious crashes completely following a series of road safety interventions, including a mobile speed camera, traffic calming, road resurfacing, and trial speed limit reductions.
There were also junction improvements, cycleway extensions, the introduction of 20mph zones near schools, and upgraded footpaths which have coincided with a 94 per cent reduction in fatal and serious crashes on the road, from 16 to one, between 2008-10 and 2011-13.
"All the measures implemented were aimed at reducing speed, crashes involving vulnerable road users, and crashes at junctions," stated the report.
Neil Greig, director of policy at the Institute of Advanced Motorists (IAM), said the results were not a surprise.
He added: "The roads that have previously been high risk have been basically shamed into improving.
"The ratings are really useful as they help councils to target the right roads. Every year a different road comes out worst. The challenge for Fife is to make sure the A909 is most improved next year."
Overall, road safety in Scotland is improving faster than Wales or any region of England.
Scotland has gone from previously topping the table to being ranked fifth most-dangerous out of 10 regions and nations following a 20 per cent cut in fatal and serious road crashes between the two three-year periods.
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