People in the Highlands feel disrespected - here's why I launched a campaign to fix the A9

Anyone can bring about change - that is why I started a petition to dual the A9, writes campaigner Laura Hansler

The basis for any successful campaign is that you are well placed within that actual community, that you are well informed, not only at grassroots, but also at a political level to what is happening and what is indeed at stake.

The commonality here is that you must be approachable, knowledgeable, be adaptable and open to widening your own knowledge base. You can’t just listen to other people’s stories, you must truly hear them.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

The A9 dualling campaign and my previous campaigns have their roots in social justice.

Laura Hansler has submitted a petition to the Scottish Parliament to dual the A9 in full.Laura Hansler has submitted a petition to the Scottish Parliament to dual the A9 in full.
Laura Hansler has submitted a petition to the Scottish Parliament to dual the A9 in full. | John Devlin/National World

They all have come from communities where people feel they have lost their voices, people that feel completely unheard by the people they elected into office, from council to government.

With the A9 dualling, not only did the people of the Highlands feel unheard, they felt forgotten, discarded and disrespected. The A9 dualling campaign directly deals with a project that truly affects people day in and day out - you are dealing with people’s lives.

You are dealing with a promise, a long-standing one at that, that has been repeatedly broken. There has been no accountability and a clear lack of transparency.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

When people are being killed and sustaining life-changing injuries on a near daily basis, it is simply unacceptable. We have heard some truly insulting and paltry excuses along the way, which are wholly inexcusable.

Our week-long special news series on the A9 continuesOur week-long special news series on the A9 continues
Our week-long special news series on the A9 continues | NationalWorld

It took me months to consider whether I did want to take this type of campaign on - the stresses I knew it would bring, and the time that I would need to commit to it.

I knew I would need to live and breathe the A9 and all that brings to the table - the psychological and emotional impact to me and my loved ones cannot be underestimated. However, most importantly, could I do this justice, could I bring about change, significant change?

Could I bring about justice for those families who have suffered because of a lack of any direct action to get this project moving forward?

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

As we all know, the project had ground to an absolute halt. It appeared to us all that this simply wasn’t going to happen.

No-one was putting their hands up to admit that 2025 was no longer achievable, and no-one was giving us a new timeline. I believe they thought we would just forget such a massive project like the A9 dualling.

Nothing, absolutely nothing was happening - nothing at local, nothing at regional and certainly nothing at national level was happening to push this project forward.

So I knew this was going to be a Herculean task, and I knew the stress it was going to bring. Could I do it justice?

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

The turning point for me came in early autumn 2022 - there came another horrific and sadly fatal collision on the A9 at Ralia.

The person concerned was merely going about their daily business and had called their family to say they were leaving Inverness and would be home soon.

Laura Hansler.Laura Hansler.
Laura Hansler.

Tragically, that was to be the last their family heard from their beloved one. The collision at Ralia was a horrific head-on accident on a single carriageway section, which the majority of these fatalities are.

What then transpired was a local news source publishing a photograph of the collision on social media, with an easily identifiable vehicle under tarpaulin and the cutting equipment of the fire service on the ground.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

I vehemently pleaded for these to be removed immediately, but it was too late.

The next day I was contacted by members of the deceased’s family and they confided in me how that horrific evening had unfolded for them, that when that image was published only the person’s partner had been briefly informed of the death, that this horrific news was being viewed by other family members on social media.

Can you even begin to imagine the trauma of learning that your mother or father, daughter or son’s death is being played out on a social media platform?

I couldn’t stomach this anymore. It was harrowing, all these innocent people being killed, all these people sustaining life-changing injuries, being subjected to this degrading and abhorrent clickbait. I’ve got a strong social conscience and I knew I could make a positive change.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

The A9 Dual Action Group then came about, as one avenue to create change through engagement. It rapidly began to grow, capturing the attention of not only locals, but people across Scotland.

It secured the attention of all news and media outlets nationally, and indeed internationally we were able to use these platforms for positive and direct action.

Whilst the group was finding its feet, I was working in the background on a Scottish Parliament petition to challenge the very people who are not only directly responsible for the project’s delivery, but also ultimately accountable for its stalling, and crucially for the unforgivable lack of transparency surrounding its non-delivery.

Devising a parliamentary petition has many factors, unlike those that we see on social media, which seem to be nothing more than shouting into the wind.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

A parliamentary petition must be first and foremost legal, tangible and within the powers of the Parliament, have a relevance to the whole country, and be an issue of national policy or practice.

You have to demonstrate relevant expertise and experience, it can’t overlap or repeat existing submissions, and must be directly relevant. Although that may seem daunting, it is important to remember that it is democratic and open to all members of the public to use and explore.

Lodging of a petition takes approximately a month, whilst you are assigned a petitions clerk to help ascertain all of the above.

When a petition is then accepted, it will then go live on the Scottish Parliament's web pages, and it is there for anyone to sign across Scotland, although crucially any petition can be lodged with only the one signatory on it - that of the petitioner.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Gathering of signatories and the momentum that creates can be crucial to a successful campaign. Our petition closed on December 28, 2022 with 5,000 signatures and this gave us an outstanding and pivotal starting point.

The Scottish Parliament is due to release the inquiry’s findings. Many may think this is where we might draw the campaign to a conclusion, but on the contrary there is so much more work to be done.

We must challenge the media use of distressing images of collision scenes, research a location and appropriate installation for an A9 memorial, and finally to absolutely make sure the long-held promise to dual the A9 is carried out, in total transparency and without the false promises and national gaslighting we have endured before.

- Laura Hansler lives in Kincraig and runs the A9 Dual Action Group. She has a petition going through the Scottish Parliament to get the Scottish Government to commit to dualling the A9 in full as promised, which has led to a parliamentary inquiry into project.

Comments

 0 comments

Want to join the conversation? Please or to comment on this article.

Dare to be Honest
Follow us
©National World Publishing Ltd. All rights reserved.Cookie SettingsTerms and ConditionsPrivacy notice