Ljubljana, 22 June - Slovenia will join a number of other European countries in using average speed cameras to discourage speeding on its motorways. A trial system is expected to be launched on its busiest motorway in the coming weeks.
The system of average speed cameras will be used by motorway company DARS and police to measure speed across a section of the Ljubljana-Maribor motorway featuring several tunnels.
The five-kilometre section near Trojane towards Ljubljana has a speed limit of 100 km/h. DARS estimates that as many as 57% of drivers currently break the speeding limit there.
Police intermittently use a stationary vehicle-based camera system on the section, but the new system is expected to be more effective in getting drivers to slow down.
Stationery cameras have proven less effective as their position is often predictable for motorists, police say.
This is why DARS has decide to opt for a system of average speed control, which will be installed in cooperation with the company 3G, DARS traffic safety representative Jan Sajovic has told the press.
Head of the Road Traffic Agency Igor Velov said that the main goal of the system is to make motorways safer. He highlighted that a third of deadly accidents on the roads are speed-related.
Velov said that similar systems, which measure the average speed of a vehicle across a longer section of motorway, are used in neighbouring Italy and Austria as well in several other European countries.
The system will initially operate on a trial basis and police will issue fines to speeding motorists only after it is fully adopted.
Source: The Slovenia Times
