The first of 100 average-speed cameras set to snare speeding motorists on the A9 Inverness-Perth road was put in place today.
The controversial £2.5 million Scottish Government project is aimed at cutting the death toll on the notorious road and driving down the accident rate.
But campaigners claim the project will increase frustration and risky driving on the road and the money would be better spent on dualling the road – which repeatedly switches between single and dual carriageway sections – before the 2025 deadline.
The first cameras are now in place on the route between Perth and Pitlochry after work got under way earlier this week.
But project will not be up and running to catch speeding motorists until later this year.
The cameras are being installed at 27 sites single-carriageway sites along a 138-mile stretch of the road between Inverness and Dunblane.
The yellow cameras – known as yellow vultures – are mounted on columns above the road. Infrared lighting masts are also being put in place.
Engineers will calibrate and test the equipment before it the cameras are turned on motorists in October.
A9 Safety Group chairman Stewart Leggett said the cameras would “improve safety for all users of the A9? by improving driver behaviour and reducing the “unacceptable levels” of speeding currently recorded on the route.
He said the cameras have been proven effective in reducing casualties when they have been put in the place on other road.
He said they were a “key part” of the wider plan to improve safety on the A9 up to and during dualling the major trunk route to the north.
