A SENIOR UK Government minister has urged the SNP to do a U-turn and scrap plans for average-speed cameras on the notorious A9.
Highland MP Danny Alexander said the controversial scheme would be a waste of money and do little to improve safety on the key route to the north.
The Scottish Government will spend £2.5million installing about 100 cameras along a 136-mile stretch of the road between Dunblane and Inverness in the summer.
SNP ministers insist they will reduce the number of accidents and help cut the death toll.
But Mr Alexander, who is chief secretary to the Treasury in the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition government at Westminster, claimed last night that the money should instead be pumped into the scheme to dual the route. He said: “The vast majority of motorists have made their feelings clear. Average-speed cameras will do nothing to relieve frustration, so they will not help stop the most common cause of accidents on the road.
“The SNP should reverse these plans before it is too late. The money would be better spent on dualling the A9. It is good news that they have finally backed the campaign to raise speed limits for HGVs from 40mph to 50mph, but now they should be turning their focus toward the long-delayed dualling of the A9.”
Mr Alexander, who dubbed First Minister Alex Salmond “Average Speed Alex”, added: “The Highlands have waited for seven long years of SNP government for any dualling work to start – the cameras are a dangerous distraction from that core objective.” A Scottish Government spokesman said: “The evidence shows that average-speed cameras help cut the number of accidents, particularly those resulting in death and serious injury.
“This Scottish Government is the first administration to commit to dual the entire length of the A9 from Perth to Inverness – some 80 miles of new dualled road. The project will be carried out as quickly as possible, with construction due to begin as early as 2015-16.”
He added: “We have been in touch with Mr Alexander’s office on several occasions to arrange a suitable time to discuss these issues.”
Campaigners fighting plans to instal the cameras are due to take their case to the Scottish Parliament next week.
The A9 Average Speed Cameras Are Not the Answer campaign’s online petition, which attracted thousands of signatures, is due to be considered by Holyrood’s public petitions committee on January 28.
Campaigners are concerned the cameras will increase frustration and the number of accidents on the road, but Transport Minister Keith Brown has previously claimed they have “already proven their worth” on the A77 Glasgow-Stranraer route and elsewhere in the UK.
He believes the scheme will pay for itself through money saved in accident reductions within the first year of operation.
Last month, lorry drivers won a concession from the Scottish Government to operate a pilot project increasing the speed limits for HGVs to 50mph on the single-carriageway stretches of the road.
They feared that if the 40mph legal limit was enforced by speed cameras it would cause tailbacks and lead to more dangerous overtaking manoeuvres by frustrated motorists.
The Scottish Government has committed to dualling the A9 between Inverness and Perth by 2025, at an estimated cost of £3billion.
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