Couple survive high speed A9 donkey collision

Feb 22 2011 by Denis Brown, Perthshire Advertiser Tuesday

A MOTORIST and his passenger cheated death or serious injury when their luxury car collided head-on with a donkey on the A9.

A close friend of the pair, Fiona Jones, said the Audi A6 was travelling at the 70mph speed limit and it was only the sedan’s sophisticated safety features that saved the occupants’ lives.

In addition to electronic anti-lock braking and traction control, the A6 comes with front, front-side and side head curtain airbags, active head restraints and seatbelt pre-tensioners as standard equipment.

She said all air bags were deployed in the collision that wrote-off the Audi, obliterated the donkey and left her friends, Stephen Buchan and his female passenger, in shock and with severe whiplash, bruises and burns.

Mr Buchan, a 37-year-old IT consultant was en route to Aberdeen from London when the incident took place on the northbound carriageway of the A9 at Greenloaning just before 3am.

“All of a sudden he’s seen four donkeys on the inside lane and has swerved to miss them but then hit another,” she said.

“The car’s safety features immediately kicked in and all the air bags went off. It makes me feel sick just thinking about it.”

She claimed that one of the police officers attending the scene had remarked that donkeys wandering onto the A9 was a common occurrence.

“So why are there not electric fences around these hotspots – it could be only a matter of time before someone gets killed,” said Ms Jones.

A Tayside Police spokesman confirmed the incident.

Scottish SPCA chief supt Mike Flynn said it was a legal requirement that all livestock was kept in secure locations so they did not pose a threat to motorist