SNP ministers have been accused of delaying the introduction of controversial average-speed cameras on Scotland’s most notorious road to avoid losing votes in the independence referendum.
Chief Secretary to the Treasury Danny Alexander claimed people in the Highlands did not want cameras on the A9 – and that First Minister Alex Salmond feared a backlash in the run-up to the September 18 poll.
Mr Alexander, who has started an online petition against the plans, described average-speed cameras as “abominable” and urged the Scottish Government to scrap the “completely pathetic” £2.5million scheme.
Transport Minister Keith Brown’s department originally said the project – which will involve lining 136 miles of the A9 between Inverness and Dunblane with 100 cameras – would be operational by summer.
But the government said on Tuesday the timescale had been revised to October and that 14 cameras were expected to be installed between three and four miles apart on single-carriageway stretches of the road between Perth and Inverness. The remaining cameras would be put in place between Perth and Dunblane.
The SNP government, which has vowed to dual the road between Inverness and Perth by 2025, insists the initiative will cut deaths. But opponents say many crashes are due to frustration and risky overtaking rather than speed.
Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey MP Mr Alexander said: “I think it is very suspicious that the timing has been pushed back from just before the referendum to just afterwards.
“Nobody in the Highlands wants average-speed cameras because they do not deal with the fundamental problem on the A9.
“I think someone, somewhere has calculated that erecting them in July and August would draw people’s attention to quite what a stupid policy it is from the government that is also arguing for independence.”
Asked if he thought SNP ministers were worried the scheme would cost them votes, Mr Alexander said: “I have no doubt. I have no doubt it has cost them votes as we speak.
“The abominable proposal has been delayed until October, presumably because Mr Salmond does not want his face all over these average-speed cameras that every motorist in Scotland sees as they drive up the A9 before the referendum.”
Mr Alexander said he thought there was a “strong case” for targeted speed-reduction measures at some junctions and at the beginning and end of stretches of dual carriageway where accidents took place.
“I think that, after seven years in government of promising to do something about the A9, the fact this is the best the SNP can come up with is just completely pathetic,” the Liberal Democrat MP added.
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