North Safety Camera Unit review of summer short term enforcement.

Summer holidays are over and the North Safety Camera Unit has completed the Summer phase of enforcement at a number of short term enforcement locations.

The locations had been identified by Local Authority and Road Policing colleagues with the aim of improving driver behaviour by encouraging them to slow down and drive within the speed limits. These locations where visited by the mobile enforcement teams during July and August when it was anticipated that the traffic flow would be higher and there would be an increased participation in active travel.

There was success at some locations where enforcement resulted in only a small number of detections.

With an influx of visitors to the Highlands, locations on the A836 at Murkle and Reay were selected encouraging motorists to modify their behaviour and stick to the speed limits. It has been very encouraging to see that most motorists were compliant with only 24 offences recorded.

However, there were some notable exceptions; enforcement on the A92 Dundee to Arbroath route resulted in 90 offences with 5 motorists detected travelling at least 100mph in a 70mph limit near to the A930 Carlogie Road junction.

In Aberdeen a frighteningly high speed of 109mph was detected on the A90 between the Kingswells and Craibstone Junctions, the location producing 41 offences over the summer months.

With concerns having been raised about speeds on the A90 at the Toll of Burness enforcement commenced resulting in 69 detections and a high speed of 84mph recorded in a 60mph.

In Moray two locations on the A96 at Alves were selected and resulted in 47 offences with a high speed detected of 94mph in a 60mph stretch of road.

Eric Dunion, Unit Manager of the Police Scotland’s North Safety Camera Unit says: “Of the 15 locations selected for short term enforcement it is encouraging that the majority have only resulted in a small number of detections and we would like to thank motorists for their compliance. It is disappointing that 301 offences have been detected with the majority linked to 5 locations where we have also sadly detected some unacceptably high speeds. It is also sad to note that a number of these detections were ‘local’ motorists who should be aware of the speed limits in place for the roads on which they are travelling. The short term deployment scheme allows us to respond to emerging issues highlighted by stakeholders and in this instance it is the anticipated increase in traffic volumes for the summer months whilst also supporting those motorists wishing to engage in active travel that enabled us to deploy. The region is once again expecting to be busy in the October holidays so it is probable that we will be revisiting some of the locations where speed is still an issue’

Chief Inspector Andy Barclay, Road Policing North Area Commander says: “Police Scotland, and our Safety Camera Unit, are committed to working with our partners in order to influence driver and road user behaviour and reduce casualties. It is disappointing that despite the known risks some motorists are still not adhering to the speed limits. It is the responsibility of all motorists to travel at an appropriate speed for the vehicle type and road on which they travel within the limit and to be aware of all other road users”.

More information on safety camera locations can be found at www.safetycameras.gov.scot

12/09/2023