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

  • Sign language reduces human error says Clearview
    September 26, 2019
    Wrong-way warning systems and advanced queue detection can help to reduce human error. They can also cut road accidents – and therefore road deaths, says Clearview Intelligence Where were nearly 1,800 deaths on the UK’s roads in 2018 – an average of five people dying each day. The largest single cause of serious injury is crashes at junctions (accounting for 33% of incidents), while the largest single cause of death was run-off road crashes (30%) “With vehicles increasingly being designed with saf
  • New London Freight Enforcement Partnership launched
    October 13, 2015
    London’s streets are set to be safer for all road users, say the members of the new London Freight Enforcement Partnership, which will build on the work of Transport for London (TfL) and partner agencies, including the Industrial HGV Task Force and Commercial Vehicle Units. It will further tackle unsafe HGVs and take any non-compliant and unsafe commercial vehicles, drivers and operators off London’s streets. The partnership, between TfL, the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA), the Metropolitan P
  • Alcohol interlocks aid drink drive adherence
    October 28, 2016
    The use of alcohol interlocks to prevent drink driving and change driver behaviour is gaining ground around the world but needs greater buy-in from authorities as Colin Sowman discovers. The often repeated mantra says that prevention is better than cure - and none more so than in the case of drink-driving. The introduction of the breathalyser provided an objective indication of alcohol consumption instead of having drivers touch their nose or walk in a straight line. Initially breathalysers were used as a r
  • Technology, social media bigger perceived threats than drink-driving, IAM finds
    November 6, 2015
    Motorists are now more worried about the dangers of distraction posed by technology and social media than drink-driving, according to the Institute of Advanced Motorist’s (IAM) first major survey into safety culture. The Safety Culture Index report was launched today by the IAM, and is a study of more than 2,000 UK motorists’ attitudes to driving safety and behaviour on our roads. IAM claims it will form a definitive baseline to track changes over time, providing the opportunity to examine how attitudes