Skip to main content

Road safety award for average speed scheme

A route enforcement and casualty reduction scheme on the strategic A14 in the UK has won a prestigious Prince Michael International Road Safety Award. The A14 route between the Midlands and East Anglia operates at the national speed limit of 70mph as a dual carriageway with central reserve and no hard shoulder. The average annual daily traffic figure is 74,000 and with no motorways or other high standard diversion routes along this corridor, journeys can be seriously delayed when congestion or collisio
November 28, 2014 Read time: 2 mins
A route enforcement and casualty reduction scheme on the strategic A14 in the UK has won a prestigious Prince Michael International Road Safety Award.

The A14 route between the Midlands and East Anglia operates at the national speed limit of 70mph as a dual carriageway with central reserve and no hard shoulder.  The average annual daily traffic figure is 74,000 and with no motorways or other high standard diversion routes along this corridor, journeys can be seriously delayed when congestion or collisions occur.  To the east, the ports of Felixstowe and Harwich result in a high number of heavy goods vehicles; these having an impact on speed differentials and traffic flow.

There were a large number of collisions and casualties along this route, even after the installation of eight fixed spot speed camera sites in 2001.  The 503 Highways Agency therefore decided to install average SPECS speed enforcement cameras between Spittals Interchange and Girton, a 22 kilometre control section.

The SPECS cameras have been operational since July 2007.  Analysis of the two year post installation stats19 data shows that killed and seriously injured (KSI) collisions have dropped by 68 per cent, which equates to an average annual saving to the economy of US$6.8 million.  In addition, anecdotal evidence suggests that journey time reliability has improved, providing smoother flows, reduced close following, less aggressive driving and better fuel consumption.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Study reveals in-car devices aid positive changes to driver behaviour
    December 3, 2012
    The results of a four-year study by the Field Operational Tests of Aftermarket and Nomadic devices in Vehicles (TeleFOT) Consortium were presented at a recent conference in Brussels. The study focused on the assessment of the impact of driver support functions provided by in-vehicle aftermarket and nomadic devices on driving and driver behaviour. Coordinated by the Technical Research Centre of Finland (VTT) and with a budget of US$19.5 million, the four-year TeleFOT project is one of the biggest traffic IC
  • Regulating rural road use
    June 20, 2016
    David Crawford looks at problems facing indigenous communities and those unfamiliar with driving in rural areas. While it is well known that the fatality rate for road crashes in rural areas is higher than in towns and cities, some groups suffer far more than others. For instance, the rates of death and serious injury from vehicle accidents is much higher for American Indian and Alaska Native (AI and AN) populations living in rural tribal lands than for any of the country’s other ethnic populations. Crashes
  • Cellular coverage on trains to get boost
    October 2, 2013
    According to Ingo Flomer, director of Product Management of UK company Axell Wireless, UK transport secretary Patrick McLoughlin’s intention to upgrade the rail network to enable passengers to access high-speed mobile broadband does not go far enough to promote an integrated communications infrastructure that supports cellular (3G and 4G) coverage on-board trains. Flomer says the UK has significant technological hurdles to overcome to connect rail passengers to the cellular network. The coverage would ha
  • Major improvements begin on UK M18 motorway
    November 3, 2014
    Major improvement work has begun at junction 5 of the M18 motorway in the UK. The US$8 million pinch point scheme will widen the junction and install traffic signals, improving congestion and reducing journey times at this junction near Doncaster.