Transport for London (TfL) has extended a pilot of average speed cameras to three more major roads across the city in a bid to improve safety and driver behaviour.
Two of the new locations came into operation on 17 June along the A406 North Circular Road from Hangar Lane to Bounds Green Road, and on the A316 from the junction of the M3 to Chiswick Cemetery. There are 40mph and 50mph limits in operation along these roads.
A third location will become operational in September on the A2 in south-east London, between the Blackwall Tunnel and Dartford Heath, where the speed limit is 50mph.
Average speed cameras are already in use on motorways across the UK. Research for the RAC Foundation, published last month, revealed more than 250 miles of roads in Great Britain are now monitored by average speed cameras.
TfL says its pilot, which already included cameras on the A40 between the Polish War Memorial and Paddington, will measure their effectiveness in reducing speed related road casualties across a wider area – not just at spot locations where drivers can slow down and speed up again once they have passed the camera.
The cameras use automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) to record a vehicle’s speed at distances along a stretch of road, and then calculate the average speed between two points.
TfL is using roadside message signs to alert drivers to the new system and has worked closely with the relevant borough councils – including Brent, Ealing, Barnet, Richmond, Hounslow, Bexley and Greenwich – to install the new camera systems.
21 June 2016