Highway speed cameras approved

AVERAGE speed cameras will be installed on the South Devon Highway by the end of 2018.

The Teignbridge Highways and Traffic Orders Committee earlier in the year gave approval for the principle of the installation of the cameras on the £110m road, that has a 50mph speed limit between Newton Abbot and Torquay,

Devon County Council’s cabinet on Wednesday morning unanimously approved spending £285,000 on installing the average speed cameras and the relevant changes in signage required.

A report to the cabinet said the average cameras will reduce traffic speeds and help enforce the 50mph speed limit between Edginswell and Penn Inn, with the latest speed data showing the majority of drivers are speeding on the road.

It added that proposals to install average speed cameras on the A380 South Devon Highway were supported by Devon and Cornwall Police and the Devon and Cornwall Safety Camera Partnership.

Cllr Alistair Dewhirst, county councillor for Kingskerswell, who has been calling for the cameras since the road opened in 2015, said that he was delighted it had come before the committee and residents welcomed this.

He said: ““The noise and pollution from the road is horrendous and it has a 50mph speed limit, but everyone ignores it. The main thing needed is the average speed cameras.