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PostPosted: Tue Jan 27, 2015 00:16 
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-h ... s-30972743

Quote:
The number of drivers caught speeding on the A9 has fallen dramatically since average speed cameras were introduced, according to new figures.

The controversial camera system, which stretches from Dunblane to Inverness, went live in October.

Despite critics claiming it would have little effect on safety, the A9 Safety Group said the cameras had a positive influence on driver behaviour.

Opponents argue that the cameras disrupt traffic flow on the road.

The A9 Safety Group, which involves Transport Scotland, police and road maintenance companies, said overall speeding was down from about one in three drivers to one in 20.

It added that the cameras - which have been introduced at 27 locations between Dunblane and Inverness - had detected 298 vehicles exceeding the speed limit over the first three months.

Police Scotland said 2,493 offences had been recorded over the same period the previous year.
Journey times

The safety group said excessive speeding - where drivers were traced travelling at more than 10mph above the speed limit - had fallen by 97%.

An associated pilot scheme allowing lorries to go at 50mph, which is 10mph faster than the national limit, has helped to reduce journey times, it added.

Average journey times between Perth and Inverness have increased by up to 14 minutes, according to the new report. Journey times were "slightly higher" in December, it said.


Sadly i don't see one single fact to support the assumption that it's made the road safer, since cameras only monitor compliance with limits, NOT DRIVING AT A SPEED SAFE FOR THE CONDITIONS.

Admin adding Full Article :
BBC News wrote:
A9 average speed cameras 'have reduced speeding'
Cameras have been installed at 27 sites along the A9
The number of drivers caught speeding on the A9 has fallen dramatically since average speed cameras were introduced, according to new figures.

The controversial camera system, which stretches from Dunblane to Inverness, went live in October.
Despite critics claiming it would have little effect on safety, the A9 Safety Group said the cameras had a positive influence on driver behaviour.

Opponents argue that the cameras disrupt traffic flow on the road.
The A9 Safety Group, which involves Transport Scotland, police and road maintenance companies, said overall speeding was down from about one in three drivers to one in 20.

It added that the cameras - which have been introduced at 27 locations between Dunblane and Inverness - had detected 298 vehicles exceeding the speed limit over the first three months.
Police Scotland said 2,493 offences had been recorded over the same period the previous year.

Journey times
The safety group said excessive speeding - where drivers were traced travelling at more than 10mph above the speed limit - had fallen by 97%.
An associated pilot scheme allowing lorries to go at 50mph, which is 10mph faster than the national limit, has helped to reduce journey times, it added.

Average journey times between Perth and Inverness have increased by up to 14 minutes, according to the new report. Journey times were "slightly higher" in December, it said.
Sticker A Transport Scotland sticker showing speed limits on the A9

Stewart Leggett, chairman of the A9 Safety Group, said the figures from the first three months of the camera scheme and HGV speed limit pilot were "very encouraging".

He said: "Drivers are clearly paying heed and moderating their speed, and we welcome this positive contribution to road safety on the A9.
"All the early findings on speed, journey time and journey time reliability are in line with our predictions, while traffic volumes on the A9 are remaining higher than in 2013, with no evidence of drivers diverting onto other routes.
"The low number of drivers being detected by the cameras and the speed profiles from along the route indicates the early effectiveness of the cameras in improving behaviour.
Average speed cameras on A9 The new camera system went live in October 2014
"But the A9 would be safer still if every driver observed the limits."
Ch Supt Iain Murray, head of road policing at Police Scotland, said the cameras had influenced driver behaviour.
Road Safety Scotland and the Road Haulage Association have also welcomed the results.

Neil Greig, of the Institute of Advanced Motorists, told BBC Scotland that he was "very pleased the cameras were working".

He said: "It is going to take over 10 years to dual the entire A9 from Perth to Inverness. During that time we did need to do something about the road safety record of that road."
Single carriageway'
The £3m camera scheme has been installed while work is progressed to upgrade single carriageway stretches of the A9 between Inverness and Perth to dual carriageway.
The Scottish government hopes to upgrade the whole length of the A9 to dual carriageway by 2025.
The £3bn project involves the upgrade of 80 miles of single carriageway. The road south of Perth is dual carriageway.
line
A9 Cameras will be installed at 27 sites in the £2.5m project
On the road Steven McKenzie, Highlands and Islands reporter

"Are we nearly there yet?" one of my kids will inevitably shout from the back seats five minutes into an almost four-hour drive from Inverness to Glasgow.
There are a number of stock replies from the front, such as: "No. And just be happy you have your wee TVs and videos to watch. We didn't have those in our day."
The journey is usually punctuated with other constant questions: "Is this the long bit of dual carriageway, or the short one?" "Why is he overtaking now???"

Driving the A9 is never something that is looked forward to. It is a long and frequently busy road. Whether you are travelling on it at nine at night, or two in the morning, there are always cars, or cars towing caravans, or big motor homes towing cars, as well as vans and lorries.
The road has acquired an almost mythical infamy. Even people who have never driven it will tut and mutter about journey times and how dangerous it is.

Sorting out the A9 was never going to be easy, or cheap.
Installing the average speed camera system has cost £3m, while dualling the road all the way from Inverness to Perth involves a mammoth programme of work that will run to an estimated £3bn.
There are some who argue that the road should not be upgraded at all and the investment should go on the rail network instead.
The completion of the dual carriageway project by 2025 should bring an end to some of the questions about journeys on A9 - although "are we nearly there yet?" is unlikely to ever go away.
line

The cameras keep watch for any cars breaking the 60mph speed limit on the single carriageway sections.
In the past three months there have been no fatalities on the parts of the A9 covered by the cameras and overall the accident rate is down.
But the system has attracted strong criticism.

Mike Burns, spokesman for A9 Average Speed Cameras Are Not the Answer, said his group had looked at details of more than 100,000 accidents on the road since 2004.
He said: "Only 2% were determined to be down to speeding and the rest were down to incidents of, for example, foreign drivers being on the wrong side of the road, poor overtaking and right-turn manoeuvres over dual carriageways.
"If these cameras were such a success, why is the A9 Safety Group now considering shutting right turns to stop right-turn accidents?
"The cameras were meant to be the be all and end all of all accidents, but they simply are not."

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Drivers are like donkeys -they respond best to a carrot, not a stick .Road safety experts are like Asses - best kept covered up ,or sat on


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PostPosted: Tue Jan 27, 2015 08:46 
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You might as well report this story as "allowing lorries to go faster improves safety". This would have as much validity as anything else that you could conclude from this report.

Making several changes at once is guaranteed to obscure the underlying reason for any improvements seen.

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PostPosted: Tue Jan 27, 2015 13:50 
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That was exactly my thoughts, not a mention of any safety benefit, which would suggest that there has not been any.

Malcolmw, they couldn't use lorries going faster as being of benefit, as that would demolish their argument that slower speeds are safer. I agree that bringing in two initiatives completely fogs any meaningful conclusions, but then perhaps that is the idea.


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PostPosted: Wed Jan 28, 2015 00:04 
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Plenty of examples of multiple changes fogging the issue, which suggests that it's becoming clear that the SCP know that it's not about speed ,but about cash generation to prop up a failing Quango.
IN the Midlands, on the A45, we had a problem. A local road crossed the A45 to get to A445. Short hop across a NSL DC to turn right for about 20 yds to turn off . I could just about do it in a 130bhp car ,with lots of horn blowing on the last leg. So we got limit reductions on the length of the road, with cameras galore. Nothing reduced the problem. THEN, we got an engineering solution - A ROUNDABOUT. Problem solved, but the cameras and low limits remain . A5, REDGATE- and along other bits on both sides, we've got roundabouts coming out of the road, like south sea islands after an earthquake. Till then ,we had bits of DC marked up as SC, limits screwed to the bone, BUT NO REDUCTION in road incidents. But there's hope- one camera has been removed. And engineering solutions are in place.
Bit like the old song "WHEN WILL THEY EVER LEARN". Years ago on roads like the A5, they had a purge on Highway robbers. Perhaps, this Government might do likewise and hang the SCP out to dry. After all , Cameron NEEDS the motorist vote to stay in No 10 .

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Drivers are like donkeys -they respond best to a carrot, not a stick .Road safety experts are like Asses - best kept covered up ,or sat on


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PostPosted: Wed Jan 28, 2015 16:50 
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We had the same local to me. An NSL road with a few accidents, mainly vehicles turning right off it just down a hill from a roundabout.

Solution

Prevent right turns and reduce to 40MPH...guess which one will take the credit for reduced accidents?

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My views do not represent Safespeed but those of a driver who has driven for 39 yrs, in all conditions, at all times of the day & night on every type of road and covered well over a million miles, so knows a bit about what makes for safety on the road,what is really dangerous and needs to be observed when driving and quite frankly, the speedo is way down on my list of things to observe to negotiate Britain's roads safely, but I don't expect some fool who sits behind a desk all day to appreciate that.


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PostPosted: Tue Feb 10, 2015 21:19 
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More rigid enforcement of rule results in more compliance with rule.

whatever next?!


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PostPosted: Tue Feb 10, 2015 23:03 
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And in the fog from the statement of reduced speeding, the VITAL FACT (or since this is a Highland issue,Vital Spark,) has been missed.
The aim of the project was TO MAKE THE ROAD SAFER. I don't see any facts to support that YET.

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lets bring sanity back to speed limits.
Drivers are like donkeys -they respond best to a carrot, not a stick .Road safety experts are like Asses - best kept covered up ,or sat on


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PostPosted: Wed Feb 11, 2015 00:13 
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Any monkey can increase compliance with any law or rule.

Here in Wales we have a corker. The carrier bag 5p levy. yep a mandatory 5p minimum charge that any business must charge if they give you a bag (carrier/paper/tesco/mcdonalds/chipshop etc)

I hate it and everything it represents. its what happens when you create a devolved assembly full of mediocre talent and give them law making powers....but i digress.

My point is that it is claimed that this levy will in some way reduce global warming, or litter, or the costs or waste disposal or something like that. 'success' is being claimed on the grounds that the issuing of bags is reduced by 90%. Utter nonsense.

Notwithstanding the fact that as far as i can see the law has no clear objective successful implementation does not equal a successful policy.

I guess these new lower speed limits COULD present a controlled case study. the more successful the implementation allows closer scrutiny and appraisal of the policy objectives.

sorry, late night rant.


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PostPosted: Wed Feb 11, 2015 01:20 
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yep- the bag tax. locally we have a filling station that tries that one. My favourite tactic is to let them scan stuff, and put in bag. Then I ask how much bag is ,and say I don't want it. Works every time- the bag price is removed at till. Even better in supermarkets, where the till operator can't remove items from the till and has to call a supervisor to authorise it.

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Drivers are like donkeys -they respond best to a carrot, not a stick .Road safety experts are like Asses - best kept covered up ,or sat on


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PostPosted: Wed Mar 04, 2015 02:29 
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There are a host of issues with this and not least those previously mentioned. They knew they had to increase lorry speeds or their would be tail backs 10 miles long! It's bad enough with slower vehicles going 50. The av cams cause horrendous overtaking manoeuvres and mass frustration as all the traffic is bunched up.
No where does it mention (in this particular) article that this length of av scams is 110miles long! It is outrageous. I wonder if in fact this is a trail for the tolls that are still trying to be quietly pushed through ?
They have said (Oh how kind of them) that they are not going to avscam the A82 the only alternative for this road that exists! However they are continuing to use scam-vans.
We know the svscams are of no benefit whatsoever and cause worse driver behaviour the more people have to deal with the same group of travellers and the bunch of traffic that they cannot avoid unless they stop wait and then join up with an alternative big bunch.
When the road is quiet watching the dash to ensure one remains within the limit is a major distraction than looking out for deer and other wildlife.
It is a pointless and despicable technical exercise of sledge hammer tactics that does nothing for road safety other than degrade it further.

Then of course there are all those drivers who are now taking the A82 as the only sane, far less safe (worse roads) alternative road, that is roughly an hour longer. However they claim the A9 is only slowed by 15 minutes but reports stated on local tv suggest the average speed is now 28mph ! Making this 110 probably the slowest in the Country!
At night there are no services other than at Perth (2 gas stations) and Inverness (gas station) but only one is indicated. During the day there is one cafe/gas station but little else unless you try some small villages.
I think it utterly disgraceful that they have pushed this completely pointless and total waste of money scheme onto the public. Claiming that it has any benefit shows how incompetent the Chief Constable is. He clearly has no knowledge of RTTM or he wouldn't have said what he has, regarding any improved claimed safety benefit! :( Shows what an easily job the speed industry salesman have!
Chief Constables have a prime opportunity at times like this to insist that more TrafPol would provide a massive and positive benefit to road safety and every time they don't they have lost a golden opportunity! :(

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