ACCORDING the dictionary definition, accelerate means to begin to move more quickly, to move faster or to gain speed.

It’s a fairly simple explanation and we all know that the best way to make a car go faster is by putting your foot on the accelerator.

Either that or push it over a very steep cliff, but that’s unlikely to do the bodywork much good.

Runners are also credited with accelerating as they head down the back straight in pursuit of glory as they chase down the field ahead of them.

Indeed, anything that can actually move can accelerate, as well as decelerate.

However, the bright sparks at much maligned quango Transport Scotland have rewritten the laws of physics by claiming that accelerating the dualling of the A9 will not save any time on the project.

This, of course, does not make much sense as accelerating anything will lead to more speed.

It’s basic physics and you don’t need to be Albert Einstein to work it out, or the reverse effect either: if you decelerate then you go slower.

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But Transport Scotland have rejected plans to accelerate the dualling of the A9 over concerns it would not save any time on the project.

Not that you can actually accelerate on the A9 anyway given it is mainly single carriageway and there are a lot of campervans, horse boxes and lorries to get in the way, Following a request from a committee of MSPs, Transport........

© Herald Scotland