what a shame

[basa]

I think it is fairly well known that the police (and in general the legal system) are commited to generate as much revenue as possible from the motorist. Not for the auspices of road safety but simply to swell the governments coffers.

Recently I was caught in a long traffic queue. There is a shortcut through a housing estate which cuts out the traffic lights. There are small signs on the entrance to this estate advising "Access only". The coppers were booking everyone who wasn't visiting an address on the estate @ £30 a shot !!

They must have made a small fortune that day. They had even 'imported' the policemen from a neighbouring force !

I remember the days when just a warning would have been given.

[Atomic22]

on the fixed gatso speed traps with rear facing cameras that can photo bike plates the trick is to go thro them faster than the shutter speed of the speed camera and all it takes is a piccy of an empty road (or some poor sod not speeding but unlucky enough to be in the other lane)
apparently a speed of about 126.5mph should just about do it....or so ive heard

Originally Posted by Theodoric

Not necessarily. IIRC, the allowed tolerances on a speedo are -0 +10%, that is the speedo must not give too low a reading but can read up to 10% high. Assuming that a police car has a more accurate speedo and you are at at the top of the tolerance range, then you could think that you are travelling at 30mph, whereas you are actually travelling at about 27mph. The police car could therefore be travelling at an actual speed of 30mph, yet still pulling away from you. Furthermore, there is the widely reported claim (authoritative source, anyone?) that the police allow you to exceed the speed limit by 10% + 2 mph, ie 35mph for a 30 mph limit, so they could, within the rules of the game, be travelling at 35mph whereas you, keeping strictly to the speedo value might only be doing 27mph. So, the police could be travelling at 8mph faster than you, still be more or less within the law, yet be noticeably moving away from you. With higher speed limits the difference in speeds could be even greater.

I remember a friend of mine was booked for speeding 42mph in a 40 zone. When the case came to court the judge told the police officer to wise up, and stop wasting the courts time. Case dismissed. Then again the Traffic Branch officer was known for being a real Hitler on that one stretch of road.

[SMHarman]

Originally Posted by Atomic22

on the fixed gatso speed traps with rear facing cameras that can photo bike plates the trick is to go thro them faster than the shutter speed of the speed camera and all it takes is a piccy of an empty road (or some poor sod not speeding but unlucky enough to be in the other lane)
apparently a speed of about 126.5mph should just about do it....or so ive heard

They tried this on Top Gear last year,
http://www.bbc.co.uk/topgear/prog1/speedcam.shtml
http://www.bbc.co.uk/topgear/prog1/speedcam2.shtml

RESULTS:

Run 1 - Civic Type-R - 129mph - FLASH
Run 2 - Merc CL55 - 148mph - FLASH
Run 3 - TVR Tuscan S - 171+mph...
...no flash. Yes at 171mph you'll beat the camera - but please take our word for it.

So as long as the camera flashes, you will be captured on the film, you really cannot travel over that much road in 1/60 of a second. If you go fast enough the radar does not even see you!

Did you see it last night, testing sideways stability of cars in 38,000 of 747 takeoff thrust. The 2CV looked like a scene from Twister.

[Gareth]

I missed Top Gear last night ....does anyone know if it's repeated during the week, maybe on one of those weirdo bbc 3 or 4 channels that I've heard about but never actually watched..?

[Dave Stones]

Originally Posted by GDW1975

I missed Top Gear last night ....does anyone know if it's repeated during the week, maybe on one of those weirdo bbc 3 or 4 channels that I've heard about but never actually watched..?

not that *i* know of, but if you give it a few days and have broadband, it usually finds its way to the torrent network...

it wasn't actually that good last night anyway, apart form the end bit with the 747 and 2CV