Average speed cameras covering hundreds of miles of British roads
More than 250 miles of roads in Great Britain are now being regularly monitored by average speed cameras.
Research for the RAC Foundation by Road Safety Analysis has identified at least 50 stretches of road which are permanently managed by the cameras with a total length of 256 miles under observation. Average speed cameras are also often used on a temporary basis to manage traffic through roadworks but these are not included in this study.
The 50 stretches range in length from just a quarter of a mile over Tower Bridge in London to 99 miles on the A9 between Dunblane and Inverness in Scotland.
Many of these stretches of road are broken down into subsections (79 in total) and will be monitored by several sets of cameras.
The first stretch of road to become permanently managed by average speed cameras was on the A6514 Ring Road in Nottingham back in 2000.
By the end of 2015 it totalled 50, with 12 systems installed last year alone.
A full list of those stretches of road in Great Britain with cameras follows at the end of this press release.
(There is also a single stretch of road in Northern Ireland managed by Average Speed Cameras but this is not included in our analysis.)
The next part of the work Road Safety Analysis is doing for the RAC Foundation will include an assessment of the cameras’ effectiveness in terms of reducing casualties by comparing pre-installation data with post installation data.
Steve Gooding, director of the RAC Foundation, said:
“Average speed cameras are becoming a more common fixture on Britain’s roads.
“Unsurprisingly, the indications are that compliance with the speed limit through stretches of road managed by average speed cameras is high, but the acid test is whether accident and casualty rates have also fallen. That is what the next part of this research project should tell us.
“Rightly or wrongly many motorists perceive the current ‘spot’ speed cameras to be more about raising revenue for the Treasury than saving lives, but average speed cameras have greater potential to bring drivers on side. Clearly a high compliance rate means a very low penalty rate and hence both road safety and drivers wallets could benefit from greater use of these systems in appropriate places.”
Richard Owen, operations director at Road Safety Analysis, said:
“One reason for the increase in usage has been the reduction in how much it costs to install permanent cameras – it’s now typically around £100,000 per mile, compared with around £1.5m per mile in the early 2000s.
“Some of the old fixed speed cameras have been around for 25 years and they are based on 35mm film. They are coming to the end of their life and are starting to be replaced, in some cases with average speed camera systems.”
Contact:
Philip Gomm – Head of External Communications – RAC Foundation
[email protected] | 020 7747 3445 | 07711 776448 | 020 7389 0601 (ISDN)
Notes to editors:
The RAC Foundation is a transport policy and research organisation that explores the economic, mobility, safety and environmental issues relating to roads and their users.
The Foundation publishes independent and authoritative research with which it promotes informed debate and advocates policy in the interest of the responsible motorist. All the Foundation’s work is available at: www.racfoundation.org
The table below gives the full list of average speed camera sites in Great Britain as obtained for the RAC Foundation by Road Safety Analysis. There were cameras installed on the A46 at Cotgrave in January 2006 but these were later removed. There might be other sites where average speed cameras are permanently installed but have not been revealed to the researchers. Although not part of this study there is a 6.25 mile stretch of the A2 between Bangor and Holywood in Northern Ireland that is monitored by average speed cameras.
|
SiteID |
Site Name |
Site Length (miles) |
Installation Date |
|
NO1 |
A6514 Ring Road, Nottingham |
3.96 |
Aug-00 |
|
NO2 |
A610 Bobbers Mill, Nottingham |
1.12 |
Sep-00 |
|
SY2 |
A616 Stocksbridge, South Yorkshire HA |
6.79 |
Dec-02 |
|
LO4 |
Tower Bridge, City of London |
0.42 |
Sep-03 |
|
NO3 |
A46 Fosse Road, Nottinghamshire HA |
0.90 |
Dec-04 |
|
NO4 |
A631 Gringley on the Hill, Nottinghamshire |
1.98 |
Jan-05 |
|
NO5 |
A631 Scaftworth, Nottinghamshire |
1.48 |
Mar-05 |
|
SC1 |
A77 Ayr to Stranraer, Transport Scotland |
17.81 |
Jul-05 |
|
NO7 |
A52 Bingham, Nottinghamshire HA |
2.39 |
Jan-06 |
|
NO8 |
A52 Radcliffe Road, Nottinghamshire |
2.01 |
Jan-06 |
|
NO9 |
A52 Saxondale, Nottinghamshire |
0.65 |
Jan-06 |
|
CA1 |
A14 Huntingdon to Girton, Cambridgeshire HA |
7.13 |
Mar-07 |
|
ME1 |
A228 Isle of Grain, Kent |
4.54 |
Nov-07 |
|
NO10 |
B6004 Oxclose Lane, Nottinghamshire |
0.62 |
Apr-08 |
|
ES1 |
A127 Arterial Road, Essex |
5.31 |
Jan-09 |
|
ES2 |
A130 Canvey Way, Essex |
2.47 |
Apr-09 |
|
LO3 |
Rotherhithe Tunnel, London |
1.24 |
Jun-09 |
|
LO1 |
Blackwall Tunnel, London |
1.54 |
Jul-09 |
|
NO11 |
A611 Annesley, Nottinghamshire |
0.66 |
Nov-09 |
|
NO12 |
A631 Beckingham Bypass, Nottinghamshire |
0.64 |
Nov-09 |
|
LI2 |
A52 Ropsley, Lincolnshire |
5.42 |
Dec-09 |
|
CU1 |
A66 Bass Lake, Cumbria |
1.74 |
Jan-10 |
|
CH1 |
A537 Cat and Fiddle, Cheshire |
9.66 |
Apr-10 |
|
ST1 |
A38 Shenstone to Bassetts Pole, Staffordshire |
3.34 |
Jun-10 |
|
CA2 |
B1096 Ramsey Forty Foot, Cambridgeshire |
3.90 |
Jul-10 |
|
NO13 |
A60 London Road, Nottingham |
0.24 |
Sep-10 |
|
NO14 |
A60 Mansfield Road, Nottingham |
0.66 |
Sep-10 |
|
CA3 |
A14 Girton to Fen Ditton, Cambridgeshire HA |
4.27 |
Mar-11 |
|
NO15 |
A614 Old Rufford Road, Nottinghamshire |
11.86 |
Jan-12 |
|
ES3 |
Marine Parade, Southend, Essex |
0.45 |
Mar-12 |
|
WA1 |
A465 Head of the Valleys, Wales |
7.91 |
May-12 |
|
SY1 |
A61 Sheffield to A616 (T) South Yorkshire HA |
4.14 |
Nov-12 |
|
NO16 |
A6097 Epperstone Bypass, Nottingham |
6.44 |
Apr-13 |
|
HU1 |
A16 Peaks Parkway |
1.19 |
Jul-13 |
|
NO17 |
A6097 (A614 East Bridgford), Nottingham |
1.91 |
Feb-14 |
|
NO18 |
A60 Chuckney Hill, Nottinghamshire |
1.25 |
Mar-14 |
|
SC2 |
A9 Dunblane to Inverness, Transport Scotland |
98.55 |
Oct-14 |
|
WA2 |
M4 J40-41a Port Talbot HA |
2.09 |
Oct-14 |
|
ES4 |
A120 Pelhams Corner, Essex |
1.83 |
Feb-15 |
|
ES5 |
A13 Aveley to Thurrock |
3.51 |
Feb-15 |
|
NO19 |
A38 Alfreton Road to Sherwood, Nottinghamshire |
2.58 |
Feb-15 |
|
ES6 |
A12 Kelvedon Bypass, Essex |
4.47 |
Mar-15 |
|
NO20 |
Bells Lane, Nottingham |
0.41 |
May-15 |
|
NO21 |
Winchester Street, Nottingham |
0.37 |
May-15 |
|
LI1 |
A15 Metheringham, Lincs |
2.54 |
Jun-15 |
|
LO2 |
Dartford Free-Flow |
3.58 |
Jun-15 |
|
ST2 |
A515 Duffield Lane, Staffordshire |
3.42 |
Jun-15 |
|
ST3 |
A519 Woodseaves, Staffordshire |
0.68 |
Jun-15 |
|
CA4 |
A1139 Fletton Parkway, Cambridgeshire |
0.96 |
Jul-15 |
|
NO22 |
South Church Drive, Nottingham |
1.52 |
Nov-15 |
|
|
TOTAL |
254.56 |
|