Skip to main content

Latvia calls for re-introduction of speed cameras

Latvia’s road traffic Safety directorate (CSDD) has called for the reintroduction of stationary and mobile speed cameras and higher penalties for exceeding the speed limit. CSDD representative Janis Golubev emphasised that the two main causes of death are violation of speed limits and the carelessness of pedestrians who do not use light-reflecting accessories. ‘Most of the road accidents are linked to speed limit violations,’ he said. He admits that ever since speed cameras disappeared from Latvia’s roa
November 18, 2013 Read time: 2 mins
Latvia’s road traffic Safety directorate (CSDD) has called for the reintroduction of stationary and mobile speed cameras and higher penalties for exceeding the speed limit.

CSDD representative Janis Golubev emphasised that the two main causes of death are violation of speed limits and the carelessness of pedestrians who do not use light-reflecting accessories. ‘Most of the road accidents are linked to speed limit violations,’ he said.  He admits that ever since speed cameras disappeared from Latvia’s roads, drivers tend to exceed speed limits rather often. While the average speed on Latvia’s roads was 89-90 km/h in 2012, current data suggests it is now 93 km/h. Average speed on some highways is as high as 106 km/h. “It gradually grows. It is absolutely clear that we need to re-introduce speed cameras,” said Golubev.

According to Golubev, 19 people have already been killed on Latvia’s roads during November, costing the country nearly US$13.4 million. He said this amount is enough to re-introduce speed cameras.

Related Content

  • How can US transportation be ‘re-envisioned’?
    October 17, 2019
    In her address to this year’s ITS America Annual Meeting, congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton, chair of the House Subcommittee on Highways and Transit, called for a ‘re-envisioning’ of transportation. Her speech is below – and ITS International asks a number of US experts what they would like to see ‘re-envisioned’…

    I would like to welcome  ITS America to the nation’s capital.

  • Nine in 10 people want tougher sentences for drivers who kill
    July 11, 2016
    A study to mark the launch of Brake’s new Roads to Justice Campaign shows there is huge support for strengthening both the charges and sentences faced by criminal drivers. Ninety-one per cent of people questioned agreed that if someone causes a fatal crash when they get behind the wheel after drinking or taking drugs, they should be charged with manslaughter. That carries a possible life sentence. At present people can either be charged with causing death by dangerous driving or causing death by careless
  • Reducing injuries and deaths in US workzones shouldn’t be this complicated
    April 17, 2023
    In National Work Zone Awareness Week, surely the least we can do is to help get road workers home safely at the end of the day, says One.network's boss
  • US DOTs introduce measures to stop wrong-way driving
    March 28, 2018
    Wrong-way driving (WWD) is a remarkably innocuous term for incidents that all too often cause some of the worst accidents that emergency services have to deal with. Several US states are now taking steps to minimise the problem, as Alan Dron finds out. You’re driving down a highway at night when you see approaching headlights. You initially assume they are merely those of an oncoming car on the opposite carriageway. It’s only when they are within 200 yards or so that you realise that the other driver is in