North campaigners fighting plans to instal average-speed cameras on the A9 have been invited to present their case to the Scottish Parliament next month.
An online petition raised by the A9 Average Speed Cameras Are Not the Answer campaign attracted 2,006 signatures before it closed on Friday.
The petition is due to be considered by Holyrood’s public petitions committee at its meeting on January 28.
And Mike Burns, of Foyers, who set up the campaign and lodged the petition, has now been asked to speak at that meeting.
National roads agency Transport Scotland believes the cameras will make the A9 safer.
But Mr Burns’s group firmly believes the main cause of death and injury on the A9 is overtaking and it wants the government to investigate alternatives, such as the lane control and spacing control systems used in other parts of Europe. Mr Burns said he was delighted that the backlash against proposals for average-speed cameras between Inverness and Dunblane on the A9 was being taken so seriously.
He said: “This is something we never thought we would get and the fact we have shows there is enough interest in what we are saying for us to be taken seriously by the parliament.
“To even be invited is a very big positive. Now I will have to see what I can do to persuade them we are right.” Mr Burns has been invited to make a short opening statement to the committee, of which Highlands and Islands MSP David Stewart is the convener. He will then be asked questions on his petition by the MSPs.
The campaigner said: “We welcome the recent government and Transport Scotland U-turn in agreeing to trial HGVs at 50mph for three years on the A9, some vastly improved road surface maintenance, and our understanding that they may water down the installation of cameras to single carriageway only. However, we are still in a position where this proposal does not directly address the fundamental cause of A9 incidents, which is overtaking.
“It is a legal and moral duty that proposals to improve A9 safety deal with the known root causes.”