A82/A85 average speed cameras to be introduced

Plans have been announced to install a £250,000 average speed camera system on a 15.9 mile stretch of the A82 and A85 roads between Tyndrum and Lix Toll. This will replace the existing mobile camera enforcement currently taking place on this section of the route.

Average speed cameras aim to reduce the number of people killed or seriously injured by encouraging improved driver behaviour and speed limit compliance.

Despite mobile safety camera deployments at 3 sites on the A82 and A85 between Tyndrum and Lix Toll there have been 21 reported collisions in the most recently assessed 3 year period. This has resulted in 9 slight injury collisions, 11 serious injury collisions and 1 fatal collision. In addition, on some stretches of this route one-in-three vehicles are speeding.

It is anticipated that the average speed camera system between Tyndrum and Lix Toll will be constructed and activated later this summer.

Cabinet Secretary for Transport, Infrastructure and Connectivity Michael Matheson said:

“Installing the £250k average speed cameras on the A82 and A85 roads between Tyndrum and Lix Toll will help to make the road safer for everyone travelling along the route.

“We already know from our experience with average speed cameras successfully deployed elsewhere on our road network that they encourage improved levels of driver behaviour, with a 60% reduction in the number of killed or seriously injured casualties on similar rural single carriageways sections of road.

“This investment will deliver a range of benefits for road users. This includes reducing road casualties, improving journey time reliability and reducing the frequency of incidents and disruptive closures.”

East Safety Camera Unit Manager, Andy Jones said: “The East Safety Camera Unit currently deploys mobile safety camera vans along this route and motorists are complying with the speed limit when the vans are present. However, there is a significant number of vehicles travelling above the limit out with enforcement periods, as well as collisions caused by inappropriate speed. We welcome the introduction of an average speed camera system as a more permanent means of encouraging improved driver behaviour to users of this stretch of road.”

A new website has been created for the A82/A85 average speed camera system. Visit www.a82-a85road.info for further information on our approach.

Background
• The purpose of the Scottish Safety Camera Programme is to contribute to Scotland’s road safety vision and road safety targets as set out in the Road Safety Framework to 2020: “A steady reduction in the numbers of those killed and those seriously injured, with the ultimate vision of a future where no-one is killed on Scotland’s roads, and the injury rate is much reduced.”
• The change in safety camera technology between Tyndrum and Lix Toll was based on the outputs of the 2018 annual safety camera site prioritisation exercise.
• Collision data used to inform this decision was based on the 3 year period 2014-2016, the most recently published data at the time of the 2018 annual safety camera site prioritisation exercise.
• The 60% reduction in the number of killed or seriously injured (KSI) casualties is based on an assessment of KSI casualties on the rural single carriageways section (south of Bankfield to Ardwell Bay) of the A77. This section was chosen as it has similar characteristics to the Tyndrum-Lix Toll section of route. This assessment compared the 2002-2004 baseline against the most recently published collision data (2015-2017).
• There are currently three permanent average speed camera systems in place across the trunk road network in Scotland: on the A77 between Symington and Girvan; on the A9 between Dunblane and Inverness; and on the A90 between Dundee and Stonehaven.