‘Camera-Trap Alley’ Found to Have Cut Speeding By 87 Per Cent
By Alastair Dalton Transport Correspondent
THE longest series of roadside cameras in Britain has drastically reduced speeding on one of Scotland’s most notorious roads.
The traps on the A77 in Ayrshire, which measure average speeds, have cut the number of offences by up to 87 per cent.
Just 21 drivers have been caught speeding in the first three months of the system’s operation. Accidents involving deaths or serious injuries have been reduced to one, compared to three in the corresponding period last year.
The figures confirm a report in The Scotsman in August that the cameras had led to a “significant” cut in speeding just two weeks after they were switched on.
The GBP 775,000 Speed Enforcement Camera System (SPECS) uses 15 linked cameras to track vehicles over stretches of a 29-mile section of the Glasgow-Stranraer route, between Symington and south of Girvan.
The Strathclyde Safety Camera Partnership said separate speed- monitoring equipment had shown the number of drivers breaking the speed limit on dual carriageway sections of the A77 covered by SPECS had fallen by 87 per cent. Speeding on single carriageways was cut by 78 per cent.
Chief Inspector Paul Fleming, the head of road policing specialist services for Strathclyde Police, said: “The purpose of the cameras, which were launched with a blaze of publicity in the summer, is to encourage drivers not to speed on this road, where there have been so many tragic crashes in recent years.
“The very low number of offenders shows clearly that the message is being taken on board by drivers.”
He said there was no evidence drivers had diverted on to other roads to avoid the cameras.
The A77 is the longest section of road in Britain to be covered by SPECS. The cameras measure speeds over a series of stretches of between one and five and a half miles long.
Twenty people have been killed and 95 seriously injured on the same section of the road in the five years to last December.
Sheena Borthwick-Toomey, of the A77 Safety Group, said: “Any motorist who travels this road will recognise the positive effect of the cameras in cutting speeds. They do not present a total solution to making the A77 safer but are an important element in the road safety strategy for the route.
“High speeds lead to a higher risk of crashes and more serious injuries, so effective action to address this is to be warmly welcomed.”
However, anti-speed-camera campaigners disputed the significance of the figures.
Paul Smith, the founder of Scottish-based Safe Speed, said: “It’s a huge mistake to equate reduced speeds with improved road safety. It’s far too simplistic. It’s extremely rare to find anywhere on the road network where responsible drivers exceed a safe and appropriate speed according to the conditions.
“Eventually – and we’ll have to wait a long time – crash statistics will prove that asking A77 drivers to concentrate on their speed, instead of the road ahead, was counter-productive.”