Speed cameras axed over funding

[Pierre]

Originally Posted by Kymmy

It's still people that break the laws not the cars

Guns don't kill people, rappers do.

---------- Post added at 16:29 ---------- Previous post was at 16:23 ----------

Originally Posted by Kymmy

The simple facts are that the speed cameras are there to stop idiots,

I've yet to see any camera technology that can do that.

Break the speeding laws you get punished if caught and not the car which is capable of doing 155+ on a german autobahn.. The cars never at fault, take a driver out of a Bugati Veryon and how many speed limits will it break...not one..

Point is, nobody advocates speeding in 30 or 40 zone, in a built up area.

However, when you're talking about dual carriageways and above it is quite safe to travel at speed on these roads in certain conditions at certain times of the day. Especially in modern vehicles.

But we're constrained by archaic speed limits set when an austin 7 was considered a performace vehicle and driving tests consisted on driving forwards and backwards 10 feet.

If the collapse of speed cameras is the only thing that comes from voting in the coalition then it's been well worth it IMO.

Originally Posted by Gary L

Oh I forgot about the Police.

Are you any good with figures? can you work out the percentage of cars made/sold/used in the UK there are to how many cars used in the emergency services?

---------- Post added at 14:26 ---------- Previous post was at 14:21 ----------



Oh we've all done that at one time or another. not all of us got paid for it though

You said "only" (which means "alone of its or their kind; single or solitary"), and you were given three other examples - must be a new definition of "only" that only you understand.

Models of cars sold in the UK used in the emergency services? Well, according to this guy, quite a lot, including (but not exclusively, as this is just the Essex Police) -
Ford Focus
BMW330d
Volvo V70
Vauxhall Corsa
Ford Transit
Land Rover Freelander
Ford Focus
Ford Fiesta
Land Rover Discovery
Ford Mondeo
Ford Galaxy
Ford S-Max
Citroen Relay
Mitsubishi Shogun
Mercedes Sprinter
Mitsubishi Lancer
Subaru Impreza
Vauxhall Omega
Vauxhall Senator

And according this this site, there are wide and varied models of cars used throughout the UK Police forces, including -
Vauxhall
Skoda
Ford
Vauxhall
Land Rover
Mercedes
Citroen
Iveco
LDV
Nissan
Peugeot
Renault
Volkswagen
Range Rovers

Hope this helps.

[Escapee]

Originally Posted by Kymmy

That's the issue, to most people it's become socially acceptable to break the speed limit laws (the same way as 30 years ago it was acceptable to drink and drive even though it was against the law since 1967 when the first limit was set)

I don't think it's a matter that speeding has become socially acceptable, I believe that automation has seen the authorities focus on a crime that is easy to capture. The result of large numbers captured by this method has seen a backlash of opinion, and is probably responsible for some peoples low opinion of the government who implemented it and the police.

I am all for catching motorists who exceed the speed limit in built up areas for example outside a school or at a bad junction. I am however totally against practices where 30 or 40mph limits have been extended on nice straight roads exiting a village, in these instances (2 here locally) the mobile camera van catches motorists on the low risk straight section of road as they accelerate to exit the village. They do however ignore the dangerous section through the village, where many exceed the limit and slow down for the safer section where they know the camera van will be located.

I would like to see the return of more traffic officers who are looking out for dangerous driving and other offences.

[Taf]

I doubt that will ever happen... they stopped escorting odd loads on motorways, they stopped watching motorways ready to chase offenders, and in Cardiff they now don't deal with most parking offences!

[chris9991]

Probably too early to judge the effect but

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-sto...5875-22479548/

It could be what you'd expect from this paper

[Kymmy]

Originally Posted by chris9991

Probably too early to judge the effect but

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-sto...5875-22479548/

It could be what you'd expect from this paper

But they are just reporting a story which has also been covered by national TV news

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england...shire-10929488

[chris9991]

Originally Posted by Kymmy

But they are just reporting a story which has also been covered by national TV news

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england...shire-10929488

Oh, so they are.

I guess I'll just have to start driving more carefully

[Angua]

Just hope people will now drive properly along the A40 rather than stomping on the brakes to drop below 50mph for the speed cameras when the speed limit is 60mph

[vanman]

The number of drivers speeding past Oxfordshire's deactivated speed cameras has increased by up to 88%, a road safety partnership claim.

I assume that the survey that was done using a hand held LTi 20-20 speed gun which seems to be inaccurate.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/insideout/south...-cameras.shtml

The slip effect
diagram showing the slip effect
If the laser doesn't focus on the same area you can get the slip

As the gun calculates speed by measuring the changing distance to a car, if the beam of the gun is moved along the car while taking a reading, this could affect the results.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q9BgKebdgWE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CbNmD...eature=related

Case One: Paul Cox

Paul Cox
Paul appealed against his speeding conviction and won

Paul Cox was driving towards Plymouth on the A303 Dual carriageway when he was stopped for speeding.

The car he was driving was fitted with cruise control, which he had set to just below 70mph - the speed limit on that stretch of road.

He passed by a marked police car that was carrying out speed checks and was asked to pull over.

The police told Paul that they had clocked his speed as being in excess of 90mph.

He was confident that he had not broken the speed limit and contested the case in court.

Former policeman Paul Cox appealed against his conviction – and won. The court found there were discrepancies in the speed gun evidence used against him.

Paul had the confidence to contest his case, but many simply accept the fines even though they feel they are in the right.

[Angua]

Cruise control is brilliant for areas where speed limits have recently dropped. Habit and knowing the road gets you used to a certain speed so cruise control is really helpful.

[Kymmy]

Originally Posted by vanman

I assume that the survey that was done using a hand held LTi 20-20 speed gun which seems to be inaccurate

Actually no, they left on 2 of the speed cameras to do their survey just registering car speeds

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-10995861

[Osem]

Originally Posted by Kymmy

Actually no, they left on 2 of the speed cameras to do their survey just registering car speeds

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-10995861

Yes and it proved that a sizeable proportion of drivers have no respect for the law but it's OK because they're all safe drivers acting responsibly....

[Angua]

Originally Posted by Osem

Yes and it proved that a sizeable proportion of drivers have no respect for the law but it's OK because they're all safe drivers acting responsibly....

As I said in the other thread higher speeds can only be done during school holidays & the road in question is a natural very wide 40mph type of road.

[vanman]

Hundreds of speed cameras

looks like everybody just got used to 30 mph so they cut it down to 20 mph

to enforce 20mph zones in Londonhttp://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standa...20mph-zones.do

The devices would be used to enforce 20mph zones and may even replace speed humps.
But campaigners fear they will merely boost local authority coffers with fines of up to £95.

TfL's plans were revealed when it invited private firms to supply equipment to “enforce average speed limits in urban areas”.
Interested firms were told: “Subject to the success of this trial there may be requirement for further systems across London.”

rest of the U.K is cutting speed cam's and London is adding more

[Kymmy]

20mph zones have been in use for years.. especially in urban streets, outside of schools/parks so why can;t they enforce these the same way as any other road ??