London to get 'all-seeing' speed cameras which catch drivers trying to avoid road limits

Clever technology: the cameras will detect motorists who slow down then speed up
Geoffrey Robinson / Alamy
10 March 2016

New speed cameras that cannot be cheated by motorists who step on the brakes to avoid being flashed are going up across London.

The average-speed devices outwit drivers who slow down and then speed up again by measuring a vehicle’s speed along a stretch of road, using a network of cameras.

The “all-seeing” devices are being set up by Transport for London to eradicate accidents at gaps between existing, but obsolete, spot cameras.

The four trial sites are on the A406, Hanger Lane to Bounds Green Road; on the A40, Polish War Memorial to Paddington slip road; on the A2, Black Prince to Tunnel Avenue; and on the A316, M3 to Hogarth roundabout.

TfL chose sites where it believes there will be “demonstrable casualty reduction benefits over and above those… achieved by like-for-like replacement of spot speed cameras”.

Spot cameras at the four sites prevent an estimated 16 “killed or seriously injured” accidents a year. But over the past three years 145 such accidents have occurred on the routes in gaps between the cameras.

Transport for London believes that the new cameras will prevent an additional 17 “killed or seriously injured” accidents a year, moving London further towards the Mayor’s target of reducing these accidents by 105 a year.

A report to TfL’s finance policy committee, which this week approved spending on the trial, said members had “concerns about the public acceptability” of the new cameras.

The report said the Mayor wanted the average speed cameras installed at a limited number of sites to “further assess their operational benefits”. The trial routes were chosen because they are high-speed, multi-lane roads with high levels of traffic and speed limits of 40-50mph.

Four other potential sites have been chosen but TfL will first monitor the initial four for two years.

AA president Edmund King said: “The deterrent effect of certain fixed cameras has worn off as some regular commuters tend to increase speeds in between the fixed cameras.

“We believe drivers will accept these new cameras as long as they are clearly signed as average speed cameras on these four routes.”

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