Cameras on A9 get drivers to slow down

THE introduction of average speed cameras on the A9 is continuing to pay dramatic dividends with three-quarters of the motorists previously detected speeding now obeying the law, it is claimed.

The cameras were introduced in the autumn amidst a welter of criticism.

But the latest figures published by the multi-agency A9 Safety Group show that 1,744 vehicles were detected speeding on the stretches of the A9 with the cameras between October 28 and April 20 – a figure suggesting an “extremely high level of compliance”, according to the organisation.

Stewart Leggett, chairman of the A9 Safety Group, said: “The monitoring equipment clearly indicates that there has been a significant shift in driver behaviour.

“The number of vehicles exceeding the speed limit has reduced from one in three to one in 15, and, more importantly, the number of vehicles travelling at excess speed, 10mph above the limit, is down from one in 10 before installation and has been maintained at a level of around one in 250.”

He said the latest figures released by Police Scotland indicated that the level of vehicles exceeding the enforcement thresholds equated to an average below 10 per day across the whole of the enforcement area.

It was based on an average daily traffic volume of over 10,000 vehicles between Perth and Inverness and 24,000 vehicles daily between Dunblane and Perth.

In January, environmentalists backed calls for average speed cameras to be installed along Scotland’s major roads after figures showed a huge fall in the number of drivers speeding on the A9 since they were introduced.