Live Traffic Cameras - Questions and Answers

Live traffic cameras are still images from our live traffic feeds located along the Scottish trunk road network. When cameras are being actively used by Control Room Operators and/or Police Scotland to manage incidents, the feed will not be available on the Traffic Scotland website. 

The names of the cameras are based on their location on the trunk road network. Camera names are assigned according to the junction name or road feature at the location. For example, the Kingston Bridge camera focusses on the section of the M8 that crosses the Kingston Bridge and the Skye Bridge camera is located on the Skye Road Bridge on the A87. There are some exceptions to this rule.

The Hilton camera is named after the Hilton Hotel as the camera is fixed to the side of the hotel building and cameras in the Highlands and the Borders are commonly named after the nearest settlement to the camera’s location.

Cameras are positions to aim to provide the best coverage of the road as possible.

In the Edinburgh and Glasgow areas, the images are updated around every five minutes. In some instances, cameras may be taken offline for maintenance or due to an ongoing incident. In all the other areas, the images are updated around every twenty minutes.

Occasionally, live traffic cameras are unavailable due to technical reasons. This may be due to short or long term faults with the cameras or associated camera infrastructure. 

There are mechanisms in place to alert the Traffic Scotland Operations Service of these faults, which are then passed onto the maintenance contractors. Due to the location and configuration of some of these cameras, they can be susceptible to temporary loss of service. These sites are continually monitored. When a loss of service is identified, all efforts to restore camera availability as quickly as possible are undertaken. We aim to fix these faults quickly to maintain a high level of service for the live traffic cameras and all elements of the Traffic Scotland website. 

If a camera is being used to monitor an ongoing incident by Police Scotland or the Traffic Scotland Control Room, the feed will be barred from public view. The message ‘In Operational Use’ will be displayed on the feed 
This is to allow privacy for those involved in the incident and to avoid showing images of collisions or a vehicle’s details. In some instances, more than one camera may be barred. 

Traffic Scotland does not routinely record any CCTV or video footage from any of our camera locations. Police Scotland or other Road Policing Forces may specifically request this, or we may be instructed by Transport Scotland to record. 

Each live traffic camera that appears on our website is captured from the video stream coming from the camera, as a static image. It is then held for around five minutes before being replaced by the next image captured. 

If you are getting in touch to request CCTV footage of a collision or breakdown you were involved in, please be advised that our camera feed is in real-time. We do not routinely record or store footage. Therefore, please be aware that it would be highly unlikely that we would be able to assist with your request.

The camera views may change as part of the ongoing monitoring of the road network and so may not be positioned as requested. The traffic and travel information is updated on the Traffic Scotland website map available on the homepage of the website which is set up so users can check their planned route