NO More New Scamera.s ????

sorry Bryce, you're not going to convince me

Speeding alone does not kill

But inappropriate use of speed can!!

and that's where the problem lies.

 

Stone-IslandM3 wrote: I don't think anyone here is complaining about speed enforcement however they are bemoaning the complete OTT and slimy underhand method police & petty civil servants employ to catch anyone doing 1mph over to gain extra revenue. If for 1 minute I thought the use of speed cameras was for the good then I would not bemoan then but the prolific nature and siting of the majority are intended for nothing more than to tax the driver. Also,as you state above the training is not adequate....however this does not mean we need more speed cameras it means we need a better system of training.

I agree regarding training and I would love to see every single perosn who was caught on a camera be givern a fine and a training course to improve driving (fine to pay for course funding). 

I drive approx 20K miles a year, I have been driving for 11 years and I have never been nabbed for speeding by a Cop or camera.  I do speed, I don't speed in a limit below 50mph, I don't understand why anyone does or how they justify it.  I have a  speedo and I know my car,  I know how fast I am driving without gluing my eyeball to the speedo and I simply don't understand how others can't "feel" how fast they are going.  Surely that's part of the fun of driving, to "be at one with the car/bike".  I have never, yet come across a "sneaky" camera or speed trap. 
 

B 7 VP wrote: If you have a backward looking Govt of any politics with fixed attitudes--you will never solve problems. This Govt do not approve of individual freedom of choice including movement, so not only are drivers fighting for their so called Rights---they also have to fight against the brainwashed machine which hasnt got a clue--but Must be obeyed. Coming up with quick fixes, which have not been thought out and knee jerk reactions are as bad as doing nothing and hoping the problem will go away. As with most things in life , training is at the centre of progress and updating it is vital .Our roadusers education is outdated, pathetic, not co-ordinated , and has stood in a time warp.A driving course and test which continues to be updated has never been implemented---Why??. Just when 18 million drivers need far better advice & encouragement to improve their standards, they get the Scameras and slime to help them on their way---and the great brainwashed wonder why? so many drivers are resentful and have lost respect for law, and the Trafpol who used to patrol their roads, and could spot a bad driver a mile away---unlike the scams. I will reserve opinion on this scam proposal until the smoke clears and the 2 way mirrors move away.

LOL - come to Ireland where the following exist:-
* no driver education. Someone who fails their driving test is allowed to drive home alone!
* extremely poor infrastructure. Until recently there was a belief that a little hedge in the central meridian of a motorway was stronger than armco and would stop everyhing!
* our speed enforcement system is about to be privatised and presumably this will result in a system similar to yours with cameras everywhere but being a cynic, I suspect there will be absolutely zero tolerance.

However, similar to the UK we have plenty of inappropriate speed limits. Our limits were recently converted to metric (we had a strange situation where distances were metric but speeds were imperial - you drove 60km at 60mph!).
Anyhow, when doing this conversion, many limits were increased or decreased due to the nature of the road - e.g. national roads became 100kmph instead of 60mph. However, some schools along stretches  of these roads were also upped to 100kmph. Similarly some very clear straight stretches were given the equivalent of 50mph (80kmph) and they could realistically support higher speeds.
But what really gets me is that the lowest limit is 50kmph (~30mph) and this is used in urban areas. Apparently local authorities can set lower limits if they want but this has not been used at all afaik. Anyhow, with a popular trend by local authorities to put ramps everywhere I don't understand why they don't also choose to reduce the limit from 30kmph to say 15kms. The ramps are definitley designed to cause inconvienence whilst sufficiently under the limit, so why have the limit? I might look into this...

Skull,

A very sad turn of events and something that shouldn't happen to anyone.  Any RTC is unnecessary and anyone at fault involved should be made to take advanced lessons, with the same offered to the "not at fault party(s)".

How many people have, off their own back, taken further lessons, advanced and so on to improve driving?  It's a stupidly low number and one that we (the public) should change, but we don't, we are too lazy yet there are regonised orgs that will help improve your driving for far less than it costs most people to learn to pass the DSA test.

If the money from speed cameras was used to subsidise this training or to force people who break the law and get caught to take further training then the roads would be a safer place.  And if we decided to improve ourselves then maybe we would be better/safer drivers, less death/injurys and so on.  So obviously everyone who complains about any law/incident on the road and reads this post will sign up with the IAM etc. to improve themselves.  Yeah right, people will just moan and moan and not do anything procative.

I read on another forum "If everyone stopped speeding then no one would get caught and the camera partnerships would go bankcrupt"  But that means obeying the law and obviously you, me  and everyone are above that, after all it's only a road law.

Bryce wrote: if the driver was traveling at a slower pace we might have had two people alive.  It's a big chance and a very huge amount of the time you will get away with it.

You're quite correct, of course. The safest thing of all is for us to just sit in our houses. The world out there is inherently far too scary for a sensible person.

Don't forget to get everything with a sharp edge out of the house as well, lest you injure yourself with a blade and stock up a large supply of food that can be eaten raw, because you can get shocked by electricity and a gas fire could burn your house down.

That's the way of the world... and your job.

I need to get my soap box out now!!!!

I am really pleased I pay my taxes to keep some pillock in whitehall that knows better than me how fast I should be driving on an empty country lane at 3am, or the M1 a 2am etc. when, generally the roads are empty or populated by more skilled drivers (professional drivers, truckers etc.)

It's also great that I am paying for a grey box that is far more qualified than an experienced traffic bab.

And I just love these community do-gooders with their pristine hi-viz jackets, state of the art radar guns, 6 foot field of view (old, retired, blind) who are better equipped to spot a stereotype than a speeding motorist! Aren't they doing a good job! MY ARS3!!

Variable limits must and should be the way forward for higher speed roads.  This way authorities can then show a bit of flexibility with times (night time), traffic loading (also geographical- the SE vs. Lincolnshire!!) and prevailing conditions, all of which are monitored on our motorway network already!!

and to complete my rant, if that ars3, darling, thinks he is going to fit me with a satellite tracker, I am going to london to personally shove it where he usually sticks his seatpost!!!!!!!

Bryce wrote: [QUOTE=spokey] a huge number of people say it's fine to  do 85mph in the rain on a motorway and 99.9% of the time they get away with it.  At some point the 0.01% of time will occur and it is very nasty.

This is exactly the point why I don't like speed cameras. On many occaisions when it is foggy, the rain is very heavy or it is icey, it isn't even safe to do 70mph on a motorway. But cameras do not pick this up. However on the same stretch of road on a hot sunny day when it is quiet, you could drive at 80mph and not pose any more danger than driving at 70, however a speed will camera catch you. The other night I was passed by a bloke who was only doing about 60mph, the trouble is it was pitch black on a totally unlit road and it was raining so hard my wipers could hardly keep up. When he passed the spray from his car was like someone blasting the windscreen with a fire hose, however he hadn't broken the speed limit, and a speed camera would not have stopped him.

Speed cameras only look at one variable whereas accidents are caused by a whole range of different variables. How many accidents can be purely attributed to someone breaking the speed limit and not other factors like road conditions, alcohol, tiredness, driving too close etc?

I'll bet the number that are caused by speed and speed alone is very small.....however it is easy to catch speeders and it is a good way of making money.

 

...and i dare say that your definition if inappropriate speed and mine are very different.

edit:KB - you spelld proper alright that time...

Edited by sleeper

Well I do agree that we need more Police in cars doing  their jobs and I would MUCH prefer to see more cops than more speed camera  for ALL of the reasons that  you all mention.

But the M25 has variable limits with cameras to catch those who disobey those limits yet many peple whinge about them, I think they are a good idea bceause the road does flow better when people obey the variable rules.

I don't think (and neither do most of you it appears) that the standard of driving is good in this country so why in hell would you want to rasie the limit on the motorway?  So that these drivers with little ability can carry there skills at higher speeds? that is mad!

Before limits can be increased everyone needs to be at a higher standard, that means education.

I would love every speed camera to be moved and for me to be able to drive as fast as I wanted but I also understand it isn't safe because of other people.  Like people who pull out from junctions in front of bikes (as was mentioned, when the biker was doing 25mph and I belive he was badly hurt, double that speed and have the same accident... The biker maybe the best in the world but if he can't avoid a van pulling out when he is doing 25mph what would happen at hight speeds? (not suggesting your biker mate was bad/at fault in anyway)).

So lets make the govement spend every penny of "profit" from cameras on driver education, IAM etc. for everyone and refreshers every few years.  Then at least those that moan about cameras know the money is for a good use rather than filling a drinks cabinet for the toffs.

I think blanket "cameras are evil" comments are daft, I think blanket "cameras are good" comments are also daft.  They have a place but that place isn't always in the crusher.

..I'v got a luvverly patchwork quilt....

(sorry.)