June 22, 2015 12.20 pm This story is over 115 months old

New average speed cameras between Lincoln and Sleaford

Watch your speed: Average speed cameras are currently being installed on the A15 between Lincoln and Sleaford to catch speeding drivers.
Average speed cameras are being installed on the A15 between Lincoln and Sleaford.

Average speed cameras are being installed on the A15 between Lincoln and Sleaford in a bid to catch speeding drivers on one of the county’s busiest roads.

Lincolnshire Road Safety Partnership believes the project, which should be complete within eight weeks, will substantially reduce the risk of serious accidents and fatalities.

More than 60 people are said to have been injured in collisions on the stretch in the last five years.

The partnership has pointed to the effect of the average speed cameras on the A52 near Grantham, which has been described as similar to the A15.

No fatal accidents and just two serious incidents have been recorded on that stretch of road since the cameras were installed almost five years ago.

Average speed cameras work by using an automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) system to record a vehicle’s front number plate at each fixed camera site.

As the distance is known between these sites, the average speed can be calculated by dividing this by the time taken to travel between two points.

The cameras use infrared photography, allowing them to operate both day and night.

John Siddle, Communications Manager at Lincolnshire Road Safety Partnership, said: “If you can persuade everyone to drive at the speed limit that will make the road far safer.

“The average speed cameras on the A15 are to replace the two static cameras that are already in place. Despite having those cameras, and carrying out a number of other safety schemes on the junctions in the area in the last few years, collisions are still occurring.

“Our evidence shows that a large number of collisions in this area are speed related however, some could have been avoided if vehicles were at normal road speed (national speed limit) or below.

“This move is to encourage motorists to drive at a consistent speed, not to reduce the speed limit itself.

“Average speed cameras are popular with motorists and persuade them to be more speed-compliant – fewer speed tickets are issued compared with a fixed camera which is a positive for everyone.

“This is about casualty reduction on a major trunk road in the county not about gaining revenue.”