Impact of A9 average speed cameras on fatal collision numbers revealed
Fatal and serious casualties on some parts of the A9 have halved since the introduction of the A9 average speed cameras, new figures have revealed.
However, the number of fatal accidents alone between Perth and Inverness has risen by 20 per cent.
The statistics, covering October 2014 to March 2015, are compared with the average of the equivalent months in the preceding three year period.
According to the report, the number of fatal and serious collisions between Dunblane and Inverness is down by over 29 per cent, with fatal and serious casualties down 50 per cent.
Fatal and serious crashes between Perth and Inverness reduced by more than 5 per cent, with fatal and serious casualties down almost 14 per cent.
The total number of injury collisions, including slight injury accidents, between Dunblane and Inverness dropped by more than 28 per cent, with a reduction in all forms of injury-related casualty of just over 50 per cent.
But the number of fatal collisions between Perth and Inverness was 20 per cent higher than the average figure for the equivalent period over the three preceding years.
There were three crashes from which the number of fatalities was four, some 9 per cent higher than the baseline average of 3.67.
Investigations into the fatal collisions have still to be concluded, however Police Scotland have confirmed that neither excessive speed or overtaking were considered to be the primary cause of the crashes.
Commenting on the release of data for quarter three (http://a9road.info/resources/publications/), a spokesperson for the A9 Safety Group said: "These most recent figures continue to demonstrate that driver behaviour on the A9 between Dunblane and Inverness has significantly improved since the introduction of average speed cameras.
"This technology continues to be the most effective measure in terms of ensuring compliance with the speed limit, with the A9 system delivering compliance levels in excess of 99.96 per cent.
"Despite rising traffic volumes the recorded number of incidents has continued to drop as well as the impact of these incidents in respect to closures and restrictions on the route. This has resulted in improved journey time reliability between Dunblane and Inverness.
"This is the first set of data to include casualty figures, these cover the period from October 2014 to March of this year. When compared to the average for the same period between 2011-2013, the number of fatal and serious casualties between Dunblane and Inverness is down by 50 per cent.
"There have also been substantial reductions in the number of injury accidents and the number of casualties overall. Whilst these figures are encouraging, we will continue to monitor the route over the coming months and years to build upon these early results.
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"We continue to be concerned about the number of fatal accidents on the A9 and we are working to further improve the safety of the route, as we do across Scotland.
"The A9 Safety Group have been proactive in running safer driving campaigns for the A9, focusing on driver behaviour issues, including speed limit awareness, and we have also endorsed the Scotland wide "driver fatigue" campaign to highlight the risks that driving when tired may present to users of the A9."