The Scottish Transport Minister recently announced the installation of an Average Speed Camera system on the A9 based on a recommendation by the A9 Safety Group.
The model used by Trasnport Scotland and the A9 Safety Group only covers a 24 hour period. Statistics show that there is a higher proportion of accidents during Tourist Season months therefore the model is highly subjective and selective on the time frame used.
A recent report to the Department for Transport calls into question claims made by the authors of the A9 Camera Proposal as being unable to quantify their claims and the A9 report does also stress the A9 is a unique case.
The comparison with the A77 SPECS system is not a true like for like comparison due to the diversity of the road types and sheer distance, with the A9 proposal being 5 times greater in length than the A77 system.
The recorded mean speeds of the A9 according to Transport Scotland all fall below the legal speed limits, therefore Average Speed cameras will not resolve any mean speed problems.
Despite evidence that there are a number of drivers exceeding the speed limit on the A9, only 28 accidents according to Transport Scotland publications are due to breaking the speed limit. Police Scotland FOI received by the campaign states that speed is generally not recorded in Incident reports and can only be inferred. Transport Scotland statistics show over 550 accidents in the same time frame were cuased by overtaking. Average Speed Cameras will not resolve overtaking manouvres on a road where the mean speeds and average speeds recorded by campaigners during peak tourist season all fall below the legal speed limit.
Whilst the A9 Safety Group state a driver education programme on overtaking and speeding would follow, official Transport Scotland statistics show that the majority of speeding offences on the A9 are from drivers outwith Scotland.
The campaign has offered a range of alternatives which directly address the overtaking problems, based on real driver experiences of the A9. It is clear that even prior to the launch of the campaign, alternatives such as Lane and Space control systems as used widely in Continental Europe, have noe been investigated to reduce the direct causes of over 550 accidents on the A9, overtaking, as opposed to 28 accidents caused by breaking the speed limit. Therefore, there is a legal duty under Health and Safety Act 1974 for the Scottish Government, Transport Scotland and A9 Safety Group to investigate and publish results in full of all alternatives to satisfy legal requirements. Until this is done, A9 Average Speed Cameras should not be installed.