Very sad news that a car crash has taken the life of a verypopular local Woman Police Officer who was well known to our community through her regular attendances at the Community Council. A young life snuffed out without warning. There have been a number of very nasty smashes in recent weeks on local roads and her fatal collision with a van on the Duns/Greenlaw road is just the latest. Given the very light traffic and generally good roads our accident rate is very high statistically compared to the congested routes of further south. The A1 has invested in a series of bloodcurdling warning notices recounting the number of accidents recorded in the next x miles and well it might as this is a dangerous thoroughfare with too much of it still single carriageway where frustration from sitting behind a lorry or two leads to often reckless and calamitous acts of desperation. But away from the A1 where on some roads there is no traffic for miles on end (I have driven on a major B Road-if that is not an oxymoron-from Paxton to Greenlaw, midmorning on a week day and not seen another car) This may lull one into a sense of false security and of course it only takes one driver hurtling around one of our hall mark twisty corners on the wrong side to do a lot of damage. In the meanwhile our thoughts are with the family of WPC Karen Fletcher. The Lothian and Borders Police can ill afford the loss of a colleague of her quality and all of us will miss such a positive and helpful young woman. RIP.  ¶ 4:11 PM