CAMBS County Council has installed the first scheme of its kind in the country to cut accidents and reduce deaths and injuries on the Forty Foot Bank Road between Ramsey and Chatteris.
The innovative average speed cameras were installed after earlier measures to reduce speed had not been wholly successful and there was a series of accidents – some caused by drivers exceeding the speed limit.
Councillors and local residents call
ed for safety improvements following a number of deaths on the road in accidents where vehicles had plunged into the water.
County Council Cabinet Member for Highways and Access, Mac McGuire, said: "I am pleased that the cameras are now fully functional and that work to install this important safety scheme has been completed.
"Speed has been an element in many of the accidents on this stretch of road and these new generation cameras will play an important part in ensuring that drivers keep to the speed limit and drive safely."
Many of the accidents along the Forty Foot involved motorists driving at high speed or carrying out dangerous manoeuvres.
One driver was caught at 100 mph along the 50 mph road.
This new state-of-the-art camera system was approved by Government in December 2009. It has cost £350,000. This type of equipment was needed because of the unusual Fenland soil conditions alongside the river.
The new technology means the cameras don't need the dedicated hard wired link between sites required by previous systems making it better for installing along the banks of rivers. Many Fenland rivers have unstable banks.
Average speed cameras have been used successfully to reduce speeds in the county, but this is the first time they have been used on a rural road next to a waterway.
