A senior UK Government minister has called for a moratorium on the introduction of average-speed cameras on the main road into the Highlands.
Chief Secretary to the Treasury Danny Alexander said the brakes should be put on the £2.5million project on the A9 Perth-Inverness route until other safety measures had been evaluated.
However, a north SNP MSP accused him of “playing games with people’s lives” with a “cynical electioneering attempt” to save the Liberal Democrats’ only MEP.
Driver frustration as long queues build up behind slow moving traffic on the single carriageway sections of the A9 is thought to be the main cause for the high number of accidents on the road.
Transport Scotland is planning to instal average-speed cameras on the single-carriageway sections north of Perth as an interim safety measure until the route is fully dualled in 2025.
In conjunction with the cameras project, the maximum speed for HGVs will be raised from 40mph to 50mph on single carriageway sections.
Mr Alexander, Lib Dem MSP for Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey, said a number of other “sensible” safety measures were being put forward, such as driver education and engineering works.
“At the very least they ought to have a moratorium on it of a year – I would prefer the whole thing to be cancelled – to allow time to evaluate the other measures,” he said.
“The concern about average-speed cameras is they will add to the frustration that is such an issue on the road.”
Anti-camera campaigner Mike Burns, of Foyers, said his group proposed a five-year moratorium when it put forward a 20-point safety plan.
“We are delighted Danny is listening to Highlanders in supporting the thousands behind this campaign who have been campaigning for this exact moratorium since last August,” he said.
Dave Thompson, SNP MSP for Skye, Lochaber and Badenoch, said: “This moratorium is a cynical electioneering attempt on Danny’s part and as such he is playing games with people’s lives,” he said.
A Transport Scotland spokeswoman said: “The A9 Safety Group held a meeting with Danny Alexander in February where they presented him with the evidence which informed their decision to instal speed cameras on the route and at no point did he ask for the plan to be halted.”