At the beginning of the year, the Road Safety Board decided to redirect €700 000 to the installment of average-speed control systems on the national road network. The project will be implemented by “Latvian State Roads”.
The Transport Ministry has drawn on experience with average speed monitoring devices in the Netherlands, Austria and the United Kingdom. Data show that road accidents with casualties have decreased by 31% to 65% in these sections of roads.
“Latvian State Roads” (LVC) has identified 16 priority stages on the national road network on which the average speed control system will be installed.
However, the new system will not be installed this year as it was planned. LVC has asked the Road Safety Board to transfer funding to next year. It is currently not possible to announce procurement for the equipment, as some changes must be made to the Cabinet regulations otherwise the new equipment will not be able to be certified.
'Average speed' cameras differ from single speed cameras by having cameras at two positions on a stretch of road. Cars are monitored at both points with the average speed between those points calculated as a result, so that vehicles cannot simply slow down as they pass a camera and then accelerate back over the speed limit.
