Fifth ASOD Phase Goes Live Ahead of Busy Holiday Season

Statement by Donald Grant, Minister of Transport and Public Works

The highly successful Average Speed Over Distance (ASOD) camera enforcement network has now been extended to cover a larger part of the notorious stretch of the N1 from Laingsburg to Touwsrivier in the Western Cape.

This is the fifth phase of this enforcement technology that has seen a substantial decrease in both road fatalities, as well as speed violations on the province’s most dangerous road.

How it works:

• The Average Speed Over Distance (ASOD) system calculates the average speed of a vehicle from the time it passes the first camera until it passes the second camera.
• The average speed is then determined by the time that it has taken a vehicle to travel from point A (where the first camera is located) to point B (where the second camera is located)
• Reaching point B in a time shorter than the time which is determined by the distance and the speed limit means that the driver was speeding.

First four phases of ASOD:

1. October 2011: R61 from Beaufort West to Aberdeen covering 71.6 km.
2. December 2012: N1 from Beaufort West to Three Sisters covering 31.7 km.
3. October 2013: R27 West Coast covering 57.2 km.
4. December 2013: N1 Beaufort West to Laingsburg covering 190.6 km

This fifth phase of the ASOD system from Laingsburg to Touwsrivier will cover a total of 72.1 km, bringing the total coverage over the province’s most dangerous roads up to a total of 423.2 km.

View the map of the ASOD network across the Western Cape.

What were previously high risk stretches of road, notorious for speeding and road deaths are now seeing more speed compliance and fewer fatalities on the stretches covered by this system. We are confident that with the ASOD system in place more and more people will slow down on these stretches thereby substantially reducing their likelihood of being involved in the horrific crashes that we have seen in the past, particularly along the longer distance roads frequented during this time by holiday-makers travelling to their various destinations.

The continued partnership between our Safely Home team, our Roads engineers and staff, the Director of Public Prosecutions, SANRAL, the City of Cape Town, and all our road safety partners has seen this project from inception, and their continued support will go a long way to saving more and more lives. Our goal has always been to ensure that motorists, their passengers, and other road users, arrive safely at their destinations, particularly during this holiday season when many holiday seekers will be travelling long distances to their destinations.

In their travels I urge them be vigilant about adhering to all road rules and particularly to refraining from travelling at excessive speeds that threaten not only their safety, but that of other road users as well. We will be extending this network to the N2 from the notorious Sir Lowry’s Pass all the way to Grabouw. This project is now at construction phase, with completion expected at the end of February 2015.

Roads are becoming increasingly dangerous, and slowing down is often the difference between life and death.