LONDON: The speed trap implemented on the 46-kilometre stretch of the A77 in Aryshire in Scotland has the desired effect, according to the operators of the system. Speeding has been cut by almost 90 per cent and only 21 motorists were caught breaking the limit in three months.
The operators, Strathclyde Safety Camera Partnership, said drivers are getting the message. The 775,000-pound Speed Enforcement Camera System (Specs) involved some 40 high-tech cameras at points between Bogend Toll and Ardwell. The system reads a vehicle's number plate, measures the time it takes to travel along various sections of the road and calculates its average speed.
Police said the system has led to drivers staying within the speed limit for their whole journey, rather than speeding before slowing down when approaching a camera.
On an average day in June, a month before the system came into operation, about 7,800 drivers of the 34,000 who used the road each day were exceeding speed limits. That figure fell to just over 1000 a day in September.
The stretch has been chosen for the trial because of its accident-prone nature. There were 15 fatalities and 314 crashes in five years on the section.
The Strathclyde Safety Camera Partnership compared the figures to a trial monitoring period and arrived at an 87 per cent drop in vehicles breaking the speed limit. There is no drop in the number of vehicles using the stretch.
Strathclyde Police's head of road policing specialist service Paul Fleming the purpose of the cameras is to encourage drivers not to speed on this road, where there have been so many tragic crashes in recent years. He said there is no evidence that drivers had diverted on to other roads to avoid the cameras.
Sheena Borthwick-Toomey of the A77 Safety Group said the cameras do not present a total solution to making the A77 safer but they are an important element in the road safety strategy for the route.
Anti-speed-camera campaigners have disputed the figures. Paul Smith, founder of Scottish-based Safe Speed, said: it is a mistake to equate reduced speeds with improved road safety. It is extremely rare to find anywhere on the road network where responsible drivers exceed a safe and appropriate speed according to the conditions.
Posted
on : Thu, 03 Nov 2005 13:10 GMT | General News
By : Mike Lawson
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