A9 and Forth road bridge average speed cameras

Coming back from Fort William two weeks ago I was getting constantly overtaken , cruise control set at 60mph then 70 on the dual carriageway, same driving to Edinburgh set at 40mph folk driving faster .What is the tolerance for going over , are others getting speed tickets or is my car needing re calibrated ?

Dont worry about other folk, get t`wireless on R4 EX and take it easy, only important people have to rush about.

You aren’t timed on the dual sections of the a9.

Speed limit +10%ish seems to be fine on single, apparently

You ARE timed on the dual carriageway between Perth and Dunblane (though the OP appears not to have gone that way.)

It’s likely your speedo under-estimates your actual speed, by 5mph or more. Plus, there is a margin/allowance built into the law which is believed to be around 10%. Add those two factors and it’s easy to see how you could be being overtaken.

Another possibility is that the faster traffic was only passing through one of a pair of cameras(joining in a segment, leaving in a segment)

I drive A9 and Forth Rd bridge most week days.
IME it’s hard to exceed the FRB 40 limit due tithe volume of traffic – I occasionally forget to flick the limiter and have never been ticketed.
The single carriage way sections of the A9 (north of Perth) are a different kettle of squirrels though.
I’ve often thought about sending in an FOI request to see how much money they make.

People still overtake because there are always morons, or they’re local traffic.

Either way, it’s made a fantastic difference to the A9, much more relaxing journey and not really any slower, the roadworks are the main thing that makes it slow.

I agree about the A9 improving with the speed cameras, but its also because HGVs can now travel at 50mph (was 40mph), which helps the traffic flow.

bigjim – Member
…Either way, it’s made a fantastic difference to the A9, much more relaxing journey and not really any slower, the roadworks are the main thing that makes it slow.

Agree. It’s made the drive a lot more relaxing not having to worry about the entitled morons cruising at 100mph.

What @scot says, if you have a gps navigation app like Waze (excellent) you can do a rough speedo calibration too.

The average person doesn’t understand what an average is.

Neither does a mean person.

The average person doesn’t understand what an average is.

This. The amount of cars I see flying through the average speed sections to then slam on the brakes at the cameras is hilarious. I guess they probably average mid-60s… but I’m sure they don’t get the point…

I also think the Inverness to Perth A9 is improved with the cameras and trucks at 50 mpg. Much less stressful. Pre-average cameras I reckon I only had one or two early morning trips which were a little quicker and many were slower.

I certainly don’t push my luck in the average speed sections and set cruiser to 60 mph or within the needle’s width of it. There was one section though where I just plain forgot they were there and must’ve went through at >65 mph and no ticket…

I also think the Inverness to Perth A9 is improved with the cameras and trucks at 50 mpg

I think you’re the first person I’ve seen to agree it isn’t the cameras alone. The 50 mph for trucks is also key.

The 40mph convoys are gone and with the trucks knowing they can do low 50s the minimum speed has gone up, reducing the desire to overtake. The cameras put the maximum speed in place, reducing the benefit of overtaking. Instead of a range of speeds of 40-80, we now have about 50-65. It was scary just after introduction with tailgating and near rear-ending but has settled now as almost everyone has learned how to drive the road.

I don’t travel the A9 nearly as much as I used to (when folks were in Elgin and I was in Edinburgh, or heading for the hills) but it was getting plain silly before the double changes (hadn’t thought of the HGV limits funnily enough). It got to the stage each journey I would see at least one “oh shit” moment each way, and a few additional sudden braking for errant overtakes that went wrong.

It may be slightly slower now, roadworks as well, but my blood pressure and heart rate are much better thanks!

what oldbloke says. the journey is much less stressful and barely any longer with the trucks doing 50mph. never seen one get 50mpg tho 🙂

the dual carriageway a few miles south of Dalwhinnie is still a bit of a racetrack though.

+1 for the trucks 50mph being a huge help. It was very frustrating being stuck behind a Tesco lorry doing 38mph for mile after mile on a road where safe speeds are far higher. At 50mph the queues are smaller. Most people are not bothered about cruising speed dropping 10mph for a few miles until the next dual section. Doing the high 30s though just encouraged dodgy overtakes.

The trucks moving faster is good and makes sense. They have the brakes and handling for speed these days.

I don’t bother overtaking them now unless it is really straight. It doesn’t cost much time to simply wait for the dual carriageway.

The reduction in road deaths is good. Maybe it’s one of us here who has been spared. 🙂

never seen one get 50mpg tho

Crikey, its right beside the h on the keyboard and is also a valid driving related acronym. Surely one of the most excusable fluffs ever!? 😀

also because HGVs can now travel at 50mph (was 40mph), which helps the traffic flow.

indeed, they tend to be a bit faster than that too. Big roadworks due this summer though I think!

the dual carriageway a few miles south of Dalwhinnie is still a bit of a racetrack though.

yeah it’s daft, you always end up 3 cars behind the people desperately trying to pass everyone at 90 when you get to perth/inverness anyway, morons.

If you were in the STW regulation T5 on the A9 north of Perth, would the average cameras ticket you for doing 60?

Asking for a friend obvs.
Speeding kills kittens etc.

A9 average wallet emptying program. More tax to give to the Gestapo.

Why would they ticket you for doing 60 – isn’t that the speed limit on the A9 ? Aside from trucks, who were limited to 40 which caused tailbacks, and now are allowed to do 50.

A9 average wallet emptying program. More tax to give to the Gestapo.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-30972743

Right… So 298 drivers were caught in 3 months = 1200 per year. Assume £60 FP per caught driver = £72k per year. £3m install cost so 41 years to cover cost of system install or a 2.4% return which is a pretty poor ‘investment’…

It doesn’t really make economic sense. Maybe ‘they’ actually wanted to reduce the number of speeders and crashes and you know, like, save a life???

no vans are 50 limit on single carriage way including overtaking lanes….

Are there any stats on accident rate before the cameras vs now ? I think if you put that on the balance sheet, including the cost of an accident in terms of emergency services and health care, time lost for those delayed and income and quality of life decrease for those involved, it was a significant bargain.

Ah OK vans. Of course.

They tend to publish stats every quarter. Initial observations seemed positive but need larger sample size (i.e. many years) to conclude. And can’t avoid the occasional e.g. tourist on wrong side of road etc… which skews the short term stats heavily.

Can’t really put a cost to some of these things anyway…

never seen one get 50mpg tho
Crikey, its right beside the h on the keyboard and is also a valid driving related acronym. Surely one of the most excusable fluffs ever!?

if you’re gonna have a go at pedants, you are in a target rich environment!
🙂

I think if you put that on the balance sheet, including the cost of an accident in terms of emergency services and health care, time lost for those delayed and income and quality of life decrease for those involved, it was a significant bargain.

Absolutely. Think about the cost of long term care, insurance claims, economic impact, etc that can result from a life changing injury. You could easily rack up a 6+ figure sum from one case

Anyone got a motorhome or converter (van) camper (reclassified) e.g ducato or T5
What is your speed limit on the A9 do you sit at 60mph on single sections?

My Transit based coachbuilt motorhome has the same limits as a car.

yep camper = car, van = hgv. love the a9 me.

Other studies have shown. Gatzo, mobile and average speed cameras do not improve safety. Or prevent crashes.

The BBC link cannot be wholly accurate. As Bear roads. Still haven’t powered up all of the cameras. I know this through my work.
You will have to take my word for this though.

The “average speed” bit is causing some drivers problems: There is a core of drivers who think that to avoid averaging more than 60 you need to drive at 50; they are in turn closely followed by similarly confused drivers (“if I overtake and hit 65 for 10 seconds then I’ll exceed 60 average…”) resulting in a long tailback of traffic only able to average 45.
Personally I can’t be a***d with the extra half hour to drive to Aviemore these days; I’ll go riding Deeside instead.
Maybe that’s why the A9 has got safer? 🙂

Just a bit of an observation coming back down the A9 from Aviemore today.
I was following a bit behind a small van crusing at 50mph (correct speed) for about 15miles.
There was pretty huge cue of cars behind it.

Shortly after that i followed a big sprinter panel van most of the way to perth.
It was doing exactly the same speed as i was going. 63ish on speedo on single and about 80 on dual. It must have gone 50-60 miles way over the van limit.
So maybe getting a lot of tickets or maybe not.

Other studies have shown. Gatzo, mobile and average speed cameras do not improve safety. Or prevent crashes.

Others studies on the A9? Or roads with similar environments? Generally I agree that speed isn’t a factor in most crashes but the factors on the A9 seemed to lead to very bad driving, often with high speeds, resulting in a lot of preventable deaths. The combined HGV/average camera setup seems to be working.

The changes have improved the A9. Calmer, quicker, safer.
There are still a few numpties around.
The road used to be scary, at least once a journey…

Between Perth and Inverness I agree.

Between Perth nd dunblane it’s much worse to drive a much scarier place.

What makes you think that section is worse TrailRat?