Average speed enforcement, a huge impact on reducing speed

A guaranteed way to get drivers to slow down and comply with work zone speed limits is to use average speed cameras. Deployed in the UK for over a decade now, they have had a huge impact, not least in achieving around 99 per cent compliance with speed limits. It's not difficult to understand: when someone knows that if they speed through a work zone it is absolutely guaranteed that they will be caught, fined and have points on their licence, only a total fool would. In the UK, SPECS average speed cameras we
January 31, 2012 Read time: 2 mins
UK Roads

A guaranteed way to get drivers to slow down and comply with work zone speed limits is to use average speed cameras.

Deployed in the UK for over a decade now, they have had a huge impact, not least in achieving around 99 per cent compliance with speed limits. It's not difficult to understand: when someone knows that if they speed through a work zone it is absolutely guaranteed that they will be caught, fined and have points on their licence, only a total fool would.

In the UK, SPECS average speed cameras were developed in 1999 by SpeedCheck Services, which recently joined forces with 31 Computer Recognition Systems to become 604 Vysionics. That average speed cameras produce previously unimagined compliance levels with speed limits, is only part of the story: it is well documented how traffic flows more smoothly, congestion is significantly reduced, vehicles can merge and diverge more easily near junctions or ramps.
The system, very familiar to UK drivers, is poised for widespread use around the world. While the recently formed Vysionics is looking outside the UK, major industry players have now entered the market.

Australian-headquartered 112 Redflex, which developed a point-to-point camera system in 2003, says it is now working closely with European governments that are looking to improve road safety over large stretches of road, be it in work zones or on highways. Moreover, Redflex promises that its next-generation point-to-point systems, being launched in the coming months, will see features like non-intrusive technology, newly designed enclosures, and solar power.

 Meanwhile, global enforcement camera player 37 PIPS Technology, part of 38 Federal Signal Corporation, has launched, and won UK Home Office Type approval for, its SpeedSpike average speed enforcement system. PIPS's first product within the average speed enforcement market, it was developed as a cost-effective distance-over-time speed enforcement system, for deployment just about anywhere, and over short or long distances. Up to 1,000 cameras can be linked in any one system.
Enforcement Detection, Monitoring & Machine Vision

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • ‘Free’ power for signs, shelters and so much more
    March 17, 2016
    David Crawford looks at the sunny side of the street. Solar power has been relatively slow in entering the transport sector, but a current blossoming of activity bodes well for the large-scale harnessing of an alternative energy that is zero-emission at source and, in practical terms, infinitely renewable. Traffic management and traveller information systems, and actual vehicles, are all emerging as areas for deployment. Meanwhile roads themselves are being viewed as new-style, fossil fuel-free ‘power stati
    Read More
  • Impact of speed limits in Barcelona
    January 20, 2012
    When Barcelona imposed an 80km/h (50mph), the result was significant in environmental, accident, fatality and injury terms. The 80km/h speed limit had the same positive environmental effect as if 22,100 cars were eliminated from the roads in the metropolitan area. Moreover, a reduction in the consumption of fuel by more than 24,000 tonnes per year was also achieved, while accidents, fatalities and injuries also showed substantial improvement.
    Read More
  • Speed cameras - road safety benefits
    October 17, 2014
    The 2014 speed camera review by the New South Wales Centre for Road Safety shows that speed cameras continue to deliver positive road safety benefits. A total of 95 fixed speed camera locations were reviewed, with 93 locations shown to be effective from the initial analysis. This positive result shows the review, now in its third year, has systematically identified ineffective fixed speed cameras for decommissioning. Overall at these fixed speed camera locations, there was a 42 per cent reduction in the
    Read More
  • On a WIM – a global view of weigh in motion
    May 25, 2016
    Q-Free’s Andrew Lees looks at regional characteristics and technology trends in the global Weigh-In-Motion market. The principles of Weigh-In-Motion (WIM) are well established. Data derived from vehicles passing over in-ground sensors can be interpreted for vehicle classification (axle counts and spacing) and positive identification (especially when linked to image capture) applications as well as to derive individual axle and gross vehicle weight (GVW).
    Read More

Highlighted Content