AVERAGE speed cameras on the A9 have "turned the corner on public opinion", transport minister Derek Mackay has said as he indicated he would be happy to roll them out across more Scottish roads.
The minister said that while cameras had been in use on the A77 in Ayrshire for ten years, the A9 scheme - which launched in October - had confirmed their popular acceptance.
He said: "The A9 shows public opinion has changed. The principle is now far better established. There is an important message for the rest of the country.
"Average speed cameras, if deployed in the right places, can help assist road safety. Extra journey times are a price worth paying for a safer route."
The cameras detected fewer than four speeders a day in their first three months of operation.
A total of 298 drivers were caught speeding on the notorious road compared to 2,493 in the same period in 2013.
There is thought to have been only one death on the A9 in the last four months compared with eight in 2014 and nine in 2013.
The 27 cameras, which measure speed over set distances, cover 80 miles of single-carriageway stretches between Perth and Inverness.
Mr Mackay's support for extending cameras was backed by Labour and motoring experts, but the Liberal Democrats said they were not the answer.
Chief Secretary to the Treasury and Highlands MP Danny Alexander said they had yet to prove themselves.
He said: "Dualling the A9 is by far the best way to make the A9 safer, something the SNP have utterly failed to do after eight years in power."
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