A Highland road safety campaigner has branded the average-speed cameras “weapons of mass distraction” and claimed motorists will pay less attention to hazards on the roads.
Claire Armstrong, of Safe Speed, said the devices would make most people “drive to preserve their licence” by watching the speedometer.
Instead of cameras, she advocates putting more police patrols on the trunk route to deter bad behaviour.
She said: “Ultimately I see no benefit of average-speed cameras. They are not there for road safety.
“When you ask drivers to deliberately go slowly, they are not driving in a progressive, interesting manner. They are in a slow, bored state.
“When you are in slow, bored state in an average-speed camera situation, you get mentally fatigued because you are making sure you are within the speed boundaries that you need to be.
“You are concentrating on the speedometer not on the traffic around you, not where cars might be coming or going. You are driving to preserve your licence.”
Ms Armstrong added: “Whether they are on or not on, you have to preserve your licence and livelihood rather than prevent damage to people and property.
“They are weapons of mass distraction. They distract people from what they are doing.”
She added that she believed the cameras would cause frustration and tailbacks and could drive more people on to the A82 Glasgow-Inverness road.
She said: “Every car is reduced to the lowest common denominator. The car at the front is the lowest common denominator, whether a tractor or a lorry or whatever.
“Everybody else behind them has to drive to that person’s inability.”
But another road safety charity, Brake, said it supported the cameras.
Spokeswoman Sarah-Jane Martin said: “Average-speed cameras are a well-evidenced, cost-effective way to improve safety and reduce deaths and injuries on roads. We support the installation of fixed or average-speed cameras on UK roads.
“The message for all drivers is simple – if you don’t speed, you won’t get caught and fined. We would urge all drivers to stay well within the speed limits. Speed is a still a major killer on our roads.”