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Originally Posted by me283
So now we have psychic policemen, who know WHY people are speeding? Pity they can't put their psychic powers to use and prevent more crime, ideally by turning up around the time an incident happens as opposed to hours or even days later?
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Who said anything about psychic policemen? You are travelling along a road at above the speed limit and pass a police road traffic car parked by the roadside. You don't slow down and carry on at the same speed. The police car sets off and follows you for half a mile still doing the same illegal speed. It pulls you over and issues a ticket. What's psychic about that. If you were concentrating you would have seen the police car and seen it set off. You would have seen it in your rear view mirror following you. Even if the police car had set off after you had lost site of it you should have been aware that it could have done so and checked your mirrors regularly.
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Originally Posted by me283
Here's a gripe, let's see how you argue this one: I object to mobile camera vans being parked within 100 yards of GATSOs, on the basis that the GATSOs have been effective enough to make drivers slow down (which I thought was the purpose?), but the police still want to catch speeding motorists.
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Gatsos make the drivers who see them slow down in most cases but do they stay at that lower speed? Many speed up as soon as the detection area is passed and some even drive faster because they have been inconvenienced by the camera.
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Originally Posted by me283
Why? Well, a GATSO costs how much? Let's say £20k. A mobile van costs how much? Say £30k including equipment. That works out at, say 2 Police officer salaries. Therefore we have effectively tied up 3 officers AND a GATSO, when the GATSO is doing the job perfectly well. And the biggest gripe of all is when you try to call the police to an incident, they are "too busy... under-staffed... engaged on more important crimes". Please evaluate and justify that one for me?
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I don't think much of your estimate of costs but that isn't relevant. The Gatso is only doing its job in its detection area and amongst other things it is a warning that there is a speed limit. A mobile speed trap just after the gatso is there to see if you have heeded the warning.
The law covers many situations and crimes, all of which require policing. When you call the police to an incident you do not know what most of the police are engaged in and the priority of these jobs. Each police force has a road traffic division which deals with incidents on the road, law enforcement on the road and road education such as the "Too Fast, Too Close, Too Late" initiative. The thing about speeding is that it is easy to detect and much publicised because so many drivers get prosecuted but these are only a very small proportion of the ones actually guilty of speeding. My own view is that most drivers exceed the speed limit because they are complacent and know the chances of being caught are very small.