New super cams for UK roads

A NEW breed of speed camera will be introduced by the government next year.

The cameras will monitor drivers' average speed on all routes across a wide area. The new scheme will make it impossible to avoid detection because digital cameras will cover all entry and exit points from roads and unlike present cameras will never run out of film. This means that drivers who slow down briefly or turn off a route will still be caught as up to 50 cameras will work together to calculate average speed. The cameras can be positioned up to 15 miles apart and will automatically read number plates and transmit them to penalty processing centres.

Existing average-speed cameras cover a maximum of six miles and drivers can escape detection by changing routes between cameras. Jim Fitzpatrick, the Road Safety Minister, said yesterday that the new cameras would help bring improved safety benefits: “When the Home Office approves the equipment, I think there will be great interest among the safety-camera partnerships. "They will give a more sophisticated edge to cameras than the blunt instrument we have at the moment.” He continued that existing pairs of average speed cameras had already shown the benefit of monitoring speed over a long distance: “Wherever there are average-speed camera signs, the traffic moves at a uniform pace. Congestion reduces and accidents reduce.” The new cameras, known as Specs3, will cost typically £300,000 per network. They will be deployed first on rural A roads with many crash hotspots and where conventional cameras, which only cover around 100 yards do not prevent speeding.