Skip to main content

FTA says any speed limit must be properly enforced

In response to the announcement that average speed cameras are to be introduced on a stretch of the A9 in Scotland, the Freight Transport Association (FTA) has said that any speed limit must be properly enforced. The decision to install the new average speed camera system which will run from Dunblane to Inverness follows an on-going review of evidence as well as careful consideration of the views of the A9 Safety Group – to which FTA has contributed on behalf of its members over the last year.
July 30, 2013 Read time: 2 mins
In response to the announcement that average speed cameras are to be introduced on a stretch of the A9 in Scotland, the 6983 Freight Transport Association (FTA) has said that any speed limit must be properly enforced.

The decision to install the new average speed camera system which will run from Dunblane to Inverness follows an on-going review of evidence as well as careful consideration of the views of the A9 Safety Group – to which FTA has contributed on behalf of its members over the last year.

The FTA voiced its disappointment at the fact that this announcement on average speed cameras doesn’t move towards reducing the speed differential on single carriageway road.  The Association also said that it agreed that the introduction of the speed cameras would represent an enforced levelling of the playing field for those who comply with the A9 40mph limit.

Malcolm Bingham, FTA head of Road Network Management Policy who attended the A9 Safety Group Meeting this week said: “While many FTA members believe that it would be safer to reduce the speed differential on single carriageway roads, and we are disappointed that no trial of reducing this differential has yet been forthcoming, it is important that any speed limit set must be properly enforced. FTA member companies are operating at a disadvantage when competing with those who are blatantly ignoring it.

“Camera enforcement used to detect differential speed from cars and HGV’s will help those operators who comply with the limits set by legislation.”

The A9 system will be the second in Scotland.  The first was installed on the A77 in Ayrshire between Bogend Toll and Ardwell Bay in 2005.  Since then it has delivered a 46 per cent reduction in fatal accidents and 35 per cent reduction in serious accidents.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • New analysis finds speed cameras may create bad driving behaviour
    October 28, 2015
    Using more than one billion miles of driving behaviour data, collected over three years (2011-2014) and including 8,809 separate journeys in 5,353 vehicles, Wunelli, a LexisNexis company, has revealed the most frequent braking black spots across the UK created by speed cameras, based on motorists braking excessively just before speed cameras to avoid being caught. Eighty per cent of all the UK speed cameras investigated had hard braking activity, with braking increasing six fold on average at these loca
  • EU urged to fast-track revised cross-border enforcement law
    July 21, 2014
    TISPOL and its road safety partners across Europe are urging the EU to fast-track the adoption of a modified law on cross-border enforcement of traffic offences such as speeding. The modified rules, published by the European Commission, come in response to a European Court of Justice ruling in May that said the existing law, which came into force in November last year, had been adopted on an incorrect legal basis. The ECJ has said the current rules could remain in effect until May 2015 while new legisla
  • Road death toll increasing in poor countries, says WHO report
    February 20, 2019
    The latest figures from the World Health Organisation on road deaths make sobering reading – but they are particularly shocking when you consider how the relative poverty of countries contributes to high fatality rates, says Adam Hill Around 1.35 million people died on the world’s roads in 2016, while road traffic injuries are now the leading cause of death among young people, according to new statistics from the World Health Organisation (WHO). Perhaps the most sobering point from its latest research
  • Lorry levy a success after only four months
    August 15, 2014
    The HGV road user levy has made more than £17 million in the four months since it came into operation, says the UK Department for Transport. More than 618,000 levies have been purchased for over 112,000 vehicles from 76 different countries since the HGV road user levy was introduced in April 2014 – which has produced enough money to patch more than 320,000 potholes on the UK’s roads. Recent evidence shows over 95% of heavy goods vehicle operators are paying the new levy in Great Britain. Roadside chec