Chris Strong’s life changed forever in August 2022, when a phone call from across the Atlantic shattered his world. His wife, Katie Bastion-Strong, along with her brother Jared Bastion and their mother Mary-Lou Mauch, had been visiting Scotland from the United States, tracing the footsteps of their favorite TV show, Outlander. The family’s dream trip ended in tragedy on Scotland’s A9, the country’s longest and most notorious trunk road, when their car collided with a lorry on a single carriageway stretch south of Aviemore.
According to BBC and Scottish government data, Katie, 46, died in a Dundee hospital four days after the crash; Jared and Mary-Lou lost their lives at the scene. The lorry driver survived unhurt. Chris, left to care for their three daughters in Chicago, recounted the overwhelming pain to BBC Alba’s Eòrpa programme: “She was beautiful, and she was the hardest working person I’d ever met. She never sat still and was so ambitious and was always learning and always in school. She was always taking care of people.” He added, “We try to talk about her a lot. I feel like she’s still a presence in our home.”
The Bastion-Strong family’s tragedy is far from an isolated incident. The A9, stretching 113 miles between Inverness and Perth, alternates between single and dual carriageway. This patchwork design has long been a source of frustration and danger. Over the past decade, 48 people have died in collisions on this stretch, with more than 80% of deaths and accidents occurring on the single carriageway sections, according to Scottish government figures obtained by BBC through a Freedom of Information request. In the same period, 558 others were involved in crashes, the vast majority again on undualled sections.
Drivers familiar with the A9 often describe a tense, unpredictable experience. The road’s ever-changing layout encourages risky overtaking maneuvers, especially when impatient motorists attempt to pass slow-moving vehicles. At certain junctions, drivers must turn right across oncoming traffic—a recipe for disaster when visibility is poor or speeds are high. Chris Strong, reflecting on the crash that took his wife, said, “I don’t know why it happened. She was going to make a right-hand turn off of the A9, and she turned right in front of a lorry.” He managed to reach Scotland in time to spend 24 hours by Katie’s side in the hospital. “Then they did tests and determined that she was not going to come back.”
For those living near the A9, the risks are a daily reality. Ronnie Weir, a resident of Dowally, Perthshire, just meters from the road, was involved in a head-on collision in April 2017. The crash was caused by another driver who suffered a cerebral haemorrhage and died at the wheel before veering into Ronnie’s path. Weir survived with leg injuries but told BBC the psychological scars remain. “The trauma which an accident causes is horrendous. Sometimes it is difficult to speak about it.”
Lorry driver Elaine MacKenzie, who regularly travels the A9, echoed these fears. “I pray for myself, for my lorry, but also for everyone else with me too—for everyone on the A9, but especially for the lorries,” she told BBC. MacKenzie pointed to a mix of factors behind the road’s dangers: some drivers misunderstand road signs, while others try to overtake in perilous spots. “If the road was dualled all the way from Inverness to Perth it would be very different. Because then cars could overtake me if they wanted, and you wouldn’t have to be worried.”
The campaign to dual the A9 is not new. In 2007, the Scottish National Party made a commitment to upgrade the entire route, and by 2011, the government set a 2025 completion target. Yet, progress has been painfully slow. Ministers admitted in February 2023 that finishing the £3 billion project by the original deadline was “unachievable.” By the end of that year, the target was pushed back by a full decade to 2035. To date, only 11 miles (18 km) of single carriageway have been upgraded; a daunting 77 miles remain.
Transport Secretary Fiona Hyslop, speaking on August 25, 2025, acknowledged the frustration mounting among the public. “Any loss of a life on the A9, or indeed other roads in Scotland, is a tragedy in and of itself. Road safety is something I take extremely seriously,” she stated. Hyslop emphasized that the government is not standing still while waiting for the dualling to be completed. “We have invested £5 million in interim, shorter-term road safety issues on the A9. The dualling in and of itself will help on road safety and that’s one of the reasons that we’ve embarked on it.”
Hyslop cited external factors for the delays, including Brexit and the Covid pandemic, which disrupted supply chains and labor availability. “We have a plan, we’re meeting our milestones,” she insisted, though for many, the pace feels glacial. Laura Hansler, a campaigner with the A9 Dual Action Group who lives near the road in the Cairngorms, captured the sense of urgency: “Every time there is a delay... you’re basically going to cause someone else and another family to lose their loved one on this road.”
Despite the government’s assurances, the statistics remain stark. More than 80% of fatalities and collisions between 2014 and 2024 occurred on the single carriageway sections—the very portions yet to be upgraded. The stories of Chris Strong, Ronnie Weir, and Elaine MacKenzie are grim reminders that behind every number is a family, a survivor, or a community left to pick up the pieces.
For Chris Strong and his daughters, the loss is ever-present. He continues to keep Katie’s memory alive in their Chicago home, sharing stories and photos, and cherishing the legacy of a woman he calls “the glue that held all the great elements of our families together.” The A9 remains a symbol of both heartbreak and hope—heartbreak for those who have suffered unimaginable losses, and hope that, one day, the road will finally be made safe for all who travel it.
