The convener of an influential Holyrood committee has called for work to instal average speed cameras on the A9 to be put on hold pending an investigation.
David Stewart criticised trunk roads agency Transport Scotland for pressing ahead with the controversial £2.5million scheme between Inverness and Dunblane before politicians had fully scrutinised the case behind calls to scrap the project.
The Highland Labour MSP argued that holding off until a petition lodged by campaigner Mike Burns had been dealt with would have been more “respectful”.
MSPs launched an inquiry in January after taking evidence from Mr Burns, from Foyers, whose campaign against the installation of about 100 cameras on single-carriageway stretches was backed by 2,000 people.
Mr Burns claimed the Scottish Government was ignoring parliamentary process in a “desperate attempt to railroad through” the project, which started near Pitlochry on Monday.
Mr Stewart, who has chaired the public petitions committee since 2011, said: “Parliament is still discussing this issue because we are waiting for more information from the Scottish Government and Transport Scotland.
“Ideally, to give courtesy to the committee process, I would prefer that no decision to implement the speed cameras was made until the petition had gone its full course.
“I share Mr Burns’ view that no action should be taken on speed cameras until the committee has disposed of the petition.
“It would have been a courtesy and respectful if Transport Scotland had waited until the committee had concluded its work.”
Mr Stewart said he had received a lot of correspondence from people concerned about the impact of cameras, which determine the average speed of vehicles between defined points using automatic number-plate recognition.
Critics fear the scheme will increase frustration and lead to riskier overtaking attempts.
A spokeswoman for Transport Scotland said it made its intentions publicly known last summer.
“The A9 Safety Group, which includes Police Scotland, local authorities and road safety experts, has committed to having the system live by October and preparations have to begin now to meet that deadline,” she added. “We have set out our case to the public petitions committee and every effort is being made to explain the compelling evidence, showing that speed cameras save lives, to committee members.
“The plans have been well received at the recent public exhibitions and the group has a duty to make the road safer as soon as possible.”