KIZZY TAYLOR
A NEW type of speed trap has halved serious accidents on one of Scotland's most dangerous roads, it was claimed yesterday.
Statistics show the system, which records a motorist's average speed, has reduced fatal and serious crashes on the notorious southern section of the A77 in Ayrshire.
Road safety experts revealed that the average number of people killed or seriously injured had dropped by half, while the average number of accidents overall had fallen by one-fifth.
But campaigners warned that the cameras may only have dispersed the speeding or dangerous drivers on to different roads.
The Speed Enforcement Camera System (Specs) pilot scheme, which became the first of its kind north of the border, was introduced on the A77 two years ago.
Forty cameras now stretch across a 32-mile zone, from Bogend Toll north of Ayr to Ardwell Bay south of Girvan, as part of the £750,000 project.
Hugh McCafferty, of Transport Scotland and the A77 Safety Group, said: "We know speed often plays a major part in both the cause of accidents and the resulting severity. This would appear to be borne out by the interim figures."
It is claimed that in the three years before the system was introduced an average of four people were killed but since the system was launched in August 2005, the yearly death average has fallen to two. The average annual number of fatal and serious accidents fell from 13.7 to nine.
Road safety experts also said that it was encouraging that while there had been a total of 24 million vehicle movements along the route, only 320 drivers had been fined for speeding.
However, road campaigners warned that the figures were not an accurate reflection of a fall in the death toll.
Hugh Bladon, founder member of the Association of British Drivers, warned that the accidents could simply have been shifted on to other roads. "If there is a drop in the number of accidents then it is to be welcomed but I am always very suspicious of these statistics which claim that accident figures have plummeted," he added.
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