The Effectiveness of Average Speed Cameras in Great Britain

This research found that the use of average speed cameras has, on average, cut the number of collisions resulting in death or serious injury by more than a third.

The study found that, having allowed for natural variation and overall trends, the number of fatal and serious collisions decreases by 36% after average speed cameras are introduced. In addition, the number of collisions resulting in injuries of all severities is cut by 16%.

At the end of 2015, there were at least 50 stretches of road in Great Britain, with a total length of 255 miles (410 km), permanently covered by average speed cameras. These stretches range in length from under half a mile in Nottingham to 99 miles (159 km) on the A9 between Dunblane and Inverness in Scotland. Many of these stretches of road are broken down into subsections (79 in total) monitored by several sets of cameras.

The report says that one reason for the increase in usage has been the reduction in the installation costs of permanent average speed cameras, which is now typically around £100,000 per mile, compared with around £1.5m per mile in the early 2000s.