AN INFLUENTIAL group of MSPs has launched an inquiry into controversial plans to instal average-speed cameras on Scotland’s most notorious road.
Holyrood’s public petitions committee agreed yesterday to investigate claims that lining 136 miles of the A9 between Inverness and Dunblane with the devices would not address the principal cause of accidents – dangerous overtaking manoeuvres.
SNP MSP Angus MacDonald said he had seen drivers playing “Russian roulette” on the road and backed the decision to raise concerns with the Scottish Government, Police Scotland and motoring and haulage groups.
The £2.5million scheme will involve installing 100 cameras at 40 locations between the Keir roundabout in Dunblane and the Raigmore interchange in Inverness. It is expected to be operational by the summer.
Campaigner Mike Burns has called for the project to be delayed and claimed figures showed that more than 550 accidents on the A9 between 2004 and August last year had been “caused by bad overtaking manoeuvres and under 30 were due to excessive speed”.
“Average-speed cameras do not stop bad overtaking,” he said. “They do not directly stop people performing very lethal manoeuvres which people see on a daily basis.”
Mr Burns, 33, of Foyers, claimed slowing traffic would increase frustration and the number of risky overtaking manoeuvres.
The campaigner said the Scottish Government had a “legal and moral duty” to address the root causes of accidents.
He claimed installing more speed limit signs and improving road markings would help people unfamiliar with the A9 and provide safe overtaking slots between traffic to enable cars to pass slow-moving vehicles safely.
Mr Burns suggested that Transport Scotland could reduce accidents by encouraging more people to take the train to Inverness.
He also urged officials to improve visibility on the A9 after counting six “tree canopies that blocked off a mile-and-a-half of overtaking view” near Bruar yesterday.
Mr Burns, an IT specialist, said: “I hate driving that road. I know I am taking my life into my hands.
“This morning on the drive down, I saw at least two or three people nodding off and swerving on to the other side of the road – it is just shambolic having to deal with that.”
Committee members said they had a lot of sympathy for motorists who used the A9.
Mr MacDonald, who is from Lewis, said: “I have driven on the A9 regularly for the past 31 years and I have seen drivers taking some hair-raising chances overtaking, which is pretty akin to Russian roulette.”
But Conservative MSP Jackson Carlaw said he was unconvinced that average-speed cameras would not improve road safety.
“Might it not be that it allows people to react better in the event of inappropriate overtaking and some accidents are avoided?” he said.
“I think what this is designed to do is to allow people a greater degree of reaction time on what is an extremely dangerous road on which there is huge driver frustration.”
Mr Burns, who started an online campaign and petition, told MSPs that he did not think the membership of Transport Scotland’s A9 Safety Group adequately represented the motorists who make up 95% of road-users.
He said organisations such as the AA, RAC and Institute of Advanced Motorists should be involved.
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