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

  • Bristol’s buses trial CycleEye detection system
    July 7, 2017
    Fusion Processing’s Jim Hutchinson looks at a two-year trial of the company’s cyclist detection system. Is cycling in a city dangerous? Well, that depends where you are and how you view statistics. Malmö is far more bike-friendly than Mumbai and the risk can either be perceived as small - one death per 29 million miles cycled in the UK in 2013 - or large - that equated to 109 deaths in the same year. Whatever your personal take on the data, the effect of these accidents can be felt indirectly too. News of c
  • Give offending drivers credit for good behaviour
    July 27, 2012
    Andrew Rooke and Dave Marples of Technolution B.V. take a look at what can be done to address a long-standing problem: the all-or-nothing approach of automated enforcement. To start, a brief history of speeding: on 14 November 1896, the first Veteran Car Run was staged in England from London to Brighton. It was organised to celebrate new British legislation to raise the maximum speed of vehicles from four to 14mph while also removing the need for a person waving a red flag to walk in front of the car and wa
  • Brake calls for action as road casualty figures rise
    February 3, 2017
    Brake, the UK road safety charity, is calling on the government to take action to reduce the numbers killed and seriously injured on Britain’s roads. In recent years road safety policy has been diminished by a lack of interest, urgency and resources, the consequences of which are becoming increasingly apparent as our road casualty figures begin to rise. Brake is calling on the government to act now to uphold its commitment to zero road deaths and injuries on the road. Road casualty figures just released
  • South west’s first smart motorway opens
    January 15, 2014
    The first smart motorway scheme in the UK’s south west has been officially launched, covering seven miles of motorway around the Almondsbury interchange and including junctions 19-20 on the M4 and junctions 15-17 on the M5. It is designed to help reduce congestion and improve safety and journey times by introducing variable speed limits and opening the hard shoulder during busy traffic periods. The improvements to the M4 and M5 use a range of technologies and operational systems to reduce congestion and