Skip to main content

Transport Scotland opts for Vysionics average speed enforcement

Traffic control specialist Vysionics ITS has won a deal to deliver Europe’s longest average speed enforcement system. This will be installed on a 220km stretch of the A9 in Scotland. The installation will be the first time average speed cameras will have been used on such a long stretch of road on a permanent basis, rather than for short term use during road repairs. The current road configuration is a mixture of single and dual carriageway which carries a high proportion of HGV traffic. Part of the lon
April 23, 2014 Read time: 3 mins
Traffic control specialist 604 Vysionics ITS has won a deal to deliver Europe’s longest average speed enforcement system.

This will be installed on a 220 kilometre stretch of the A9 in Scotland.

The installation will be the first time average speed cameras will have been used on such a long stretch of road on a permanent basis, rather than for short term use during road repairs.

The A9 has a fearsome record for crashes and this installation represents a trial of the technology, with a view to helping improve safety along the route. The average speed cameras will be installed between Dunblane and Inverness during 2014, forming part of a long term safety strategy that also includes dualling the Perth to Inverness section of the route by 2025. The move is of immense significance and its progress will be closely monitored within the UK and Europe as a whole. Should it deliver the safety benefits expected, it will herald a much wider introduction of average speed camera systems along stretches of the road network with high crash statistics and requiring safety improvements both in the UK and in Europe.

The A9 is a key strategic route in Scotland, running from the central belt through to the highlands and provides an important link for heavy goods transport as well as for tourism. The existing road is a mixture of single and dual carriageway, carrying a high proportion of HGV traffic. The current national speed limit for HGVs over 7.5tonnes is 64km/h on the single carriageway sections, which can often lead to traffic queues and driver frustration leading in turn to poor driver behaviour. Part of the overall strategy to make the route safer, improve journey time reliability and reduce frustration is to increase the HGV speed limit to 80km/h on the single carriageway sections between Perth and Inverness. This will be enforced by the network of SPECS3 average speed cameras and subjected to Transport Scotand’s normal three-year evaluation.

SPECS3 is an ANPR based average speed enforcement system. Camera installations, supported by appropriate signage will be placed at between 5 and 7 kilometres apart, mounted on highly distinctive SPECS columns. The cameras operate in darkness as they feature infra-red illumination. The lack of visible lighting or flashes is particularly beneficial in the Caingorm National Park, where visible lighting is not permitted.

Offence data is collected at the roadside and communicated back to a remote central server. Average speed cameras have been widely used around the UK with more than 60 permanent sites to date. At sites where they have been installed as a casualty reduction measure, killed or seriously Injured (KSI) figures have reduced by on average more than 70 per cent. In addition, traffic flows improve, resulting in improved journey reliability and low offence levels.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Traffex snapshot reveals enforcement advances
    July 24, 2017
    An indication of just how far beyond spot speed and red light the enforcement sector has progressed was evident in the range of new and improved equipment on display at the recent Traffex event in Birmingham. One of the key trends, particularly in the UK but also evident elsewhere, is the increase in average speed enforcement, according to RedSpeed’s managing director Robert Ryan, who predicts a big increase in installations this year. “The price point has reached a level authorities can afford,” he says, a
  • UK defaults to hard shoulder running to expand motorway capacity
    April 8, 2014
    Hard shoulder running has become the UK’s default response to increasing motorway capacity as Colin Sowman reports. Facing a predicted 46% increase in traffic levels by 2040 and the current economic recovery leading to more people travelling to, from and for work leaves the UK government under short- and long-term pressure to increase the capacity on the main motorway network. Particular sections of motorways are already experiencing repeated, sometimes tidal, congestion and both tight Treasury limits and t
  • Jenoptik technology for average speed enforcement pilot project
    February 3, 2015
    Jenoptik’s Traffic Solutions division is to participate in an 18-month Germany-wide section speed control (or average speed enforcement) pilot project. Jenoptik technology will initially be tested in Lower Saxony. Jenoptik will supply its laser scanner-based TraffiSection technology for the project in order to monitor the speed limit on a section of highway just under three kilometres in length on Federal Highway 6 south of Hanover. The system uses measuring systems and cameras installed at the entry an
  • Dublin Tunnel gets average speed enforcement
    June 13, 2016
    Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII) is working with the4 Irish police force, An Garda Síochána, on the installation of Ireland’s first average speed camera enforcement system, which will be deployed in the Dublin Port Tunnel. Opened in 2006, the 4.5 km tunnel forms part of the M50 C-Ring road around Dublin City. Traffic levels through the tunnel have increased by 40 per cent over the last five years and as a result there is statistically, an increase in the potential for collisions and accidents.