“Average speed cameras don’t just save lives”

Jenoptik is celebrating the installation of its 250th SPECS average speed enforcement scheme – hailing the impact the technology has had both in terms of improving road safety and reducing emissions.

The technology was first used by Jenoptik, under its old name of Speed Check Services, in Nottingham in the year 2000.

The technology uses Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) cameras to monitor the number plates of vehicles as they pass fixed points on the road. It then calculates the time taken compared with how long it should take if the vehicle was driving at the speed limit.  

Vehicles taking less time can therefore be shown to be going too fast.  

Independent analysis comparing collision data before and after installation of the technology on roads shows that fatal and serious collisions are reduced by 50%.

Earlier this month, the 250th installation of a Jenoptik SPECS scheme in the UK was made along the A39 in Cornwall.

Multiple lives have been lost, with many more people injured, on the stretch of road linking the county town of Truro with Falmouth.

In a joint statement with Adrian Leisk, Devon and Cornwall Police’s head of road safety, Natalie Warr, Vision Zero South West partnership manager, said: “After years of carrying out Community Speed Watch and using mobile speed camera signs to help us educate drivers, these cameras will now provide constant monitoring along this section of the A39.

“Drivers travelling over the speed threshold will receive a notice of intended prosecution with either an educational course, points and a fine or even court appearance as the outcome.  We urge drivers to take more care and respect the limits in place.”

Jenoptik says the landmark installation illustrates how the use of average speed enforcement has grown over the years.  

While it took 17 years for the first hundred to be installed, the company celebrated its 200th scheme in May 2021. Another 50 have been installed in a little over 18 months since.

Timo Thornton, Jenoptik account manager, said: “Average speed cameras don’t just save lives.

“They are also shown to lead to reduced emissions – meaning better air quality – and they have the support of drivers, with anecdotal evidence suggesting average speed schemes are far more accepted and popular than spot-speed solutions.  

“Jenoptik is far and away the leading supplier of average speed enforcement solutions in the UK – because we really understand how to deliver them, and in the process create safer, smoother, greener and fairer roads.”

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