THE ASSOCIATION OF BRITISH DRIVERS
IN SCOTLAND
Letter Received by Simon in Response to His Email
Letter dated 23 September 2002...
Dear Mr Tonks
Thank you for e-mail of 18 August to the Scottish Ministers regarding speed cameras and speed limits at roadworks on the A90 trunk road. I have been asked to reply.
Following the announcement of the Department of Transport's new guidelines governing roadside speed cameras, the trunk road Operating Companies were instructed to carry out surveys of all speed camera installations on the trunk road network to determine which sites were obscured by foliage or signs. Simultaneously, arrangements were put in hand to highlight camera housings with red and yellow bandings. While the work on the camera housings has been completed successfully, the re-positioning of the signs/cameras has taken a little longer. However, I understand that the work on the A90 speed cameras is currently underway.
I can reassure you that the primary purpose of speed cameras is to reduce death and injury on roads. For this reason strict criteria has been put in place to ensure that cameras are not used simply as a means of raising revenue.
With regard to your comments about reduced speed limits at roadworks on the A90, I should explain that all roadworks pose a danger to members of the public and roadworkers. For this reason traffic management systems have to be put in place. Traffic management systems are formulated following discussions involving the trunk road Operating Company, BEAR Scotland Ltd, the Police and local roads authorities. Appropriate speed limits for roadworks are implemented after risk assessments have been carried out on both users and site operatives.
The specific roadworks you refer to at Inchture and Forfar are in place to address road safety on the A90 and are delivering solutions at recognised accident blackspots. It should be noted that 50mph speed limits were already in place at Forfar, enforced by speed cameras and monitored by CCTV, prior to the commencement of the roadworks. I note your comment that there was no activity at these roadworks during the week ending 18 August. However, I can assure you that work has been ongoing at Inchture since April 2002 and Forfar from 5 August 2002. Typical working hours are 7.30am to 5.30pm, 5 days a week with a morning shift on Saturday. The works at Forfar, up until 18 August, also included night shifts.
I can assure you that the Scottish Executive will always seek to minimise inconvenience to motorists during roadworks. However, the interests of road safety are paramount and must take precedence over any inconvenience caused to road users.
Yours sincerely
MRS J HAGGERTY
Network Support
Back to Simon's Campaigns Page SCOTTISH HOME PAGE To the Executive Correspondence Link