Ive just heard that 6 people in village next to me are getting trained to use hand held speed guns with cameras built in. Apparently you cant get
convicted off one but DVLA will issue a caution if you are caught.
Anyone else heard about this?
Andy D - its up in Toft Hill if you are interested - even closer to you than me!
are the police too scared to go outside anymore?
quote:
Originally posted by Mr Whippy
are the police too scared to go outside anymore?
i think the local Post Offices run the law and order system - and you thought it was PO cut backs that were closing them down?!
Regular occurance round our way. Gives the pensioners something to do...
IIRC Hampshire have been using this for a couple of years. May be worth googling Hampshire Police. Cheers, Pewe
why employ police officers when you have a band of highly motivated and miss informed civilians?
Oh thats right because police officers might be distracted by REAL crimes while at the road side like catching drunk/uninsured/drivers of stolen cars
doing hit and runs and driving dangerous vehicles.
When will this media obsessed country realise that we are fed propaganda about easy to solve crimes to avoid the real issues. 
a chap at our work got one of those cautions after having someone holding a speed gun jump out of a hedge in his village.
Vigilante biker
feel good about yourself and take the law into your own hands...
Vigilinky
[Edited on 31/10/08 by Mr Whippy]
What about the father of some poor kid who has been killed by a speeding motorist. Do you think he would share such selfish and irresponsable
views?
Bet He wishes the "biddies" and "pensioners" were around then.
Speeding on public roads kills and no more so than in built up areas.
If you want thrills go to a track day don't pedal tripe here.
More to the point, if there is a speed limit KEEP TO IT, then you aint got a problem. There are plenty of other places you can go loony. I got done at 4.30 in the morning for 34 mph. Didnt like it one bit but I know the rules and so it was tough s**t.
quote:
Originally posted by v8kid
Speeding on public roads kills and no more so than in built up areas.
If you want thrills go to a track day don't pedal tripe here.
Have to agree. Had points and fine myself, didn't like it but no one to blame but myself.
The trouble is that whilst speed limits are necessary and justified in many applications most importantly in built up areas where pedestrians are a
danger, they are being lowered and applied much more widely as a vote getter for the increasing hordes of the aged!
Each motorist is responsible for driving appropriately with regard to the road, area and conditions. Speed limits should not be used as a replacement
for that responsibility which apparently few can be trusted with these days.
With the proliferation of 30 mph speed limits in areas that don't warrant them people are just ignoring speed limits across the board as
frequently 30 is a ridiculous speed to be doing. I see this all the time where I live and still local politicians are calling for lower limits
despite very little in the way of accidents from the very large volume of traffic throughout the day.
This is all just my opinion of course and you're all welcome to disagree with it, but at the moment there are spots of higher speed limits
between villages, and the speed limit changes as you enter the next village to, sensibly, 30. However the local council wants to join up all the 30
zones. This is going to just slow down the whole area even more and make it a nightmare for those of us who actually live here and need to get out!
And outside of the rush most people will completely ignore the speed limit not only through the bits it's safe to be going quickly, but also
through the villages themselves.
Sorry this was all a bit off topic but I meant to say we also have the biddy brigade with cameras, and they patrol a few places where there is little
traffic and very little in the way of houses, children, or danger! WASTE OF TIME! [/RANT]
[Edited on 31/10/08 by ravingfool]
quote:
Originally posted by flak monkey
quote:
Originally posted by v8kid
Speeding on public roads kills and no more so than in built up areas.
If you want thrills go to a track day don't pedal tripe here.
Speed doesnt kill, its irresponsible use of it that does. Exactly the same as guns...
Trouble is we all like to think we are good drivers - wether we are good or bad.
Pedal the crap that you are better than everyone else and pretty soon they will change the law so that if you kill someone whilst speeding its an
automatic murder charge.
Don't want that!!!
So don't spread the word that it is OK for the "elite" to speed or that's what will happen sure as god made little green apples!!!
Before this posts spirals off at a tangent i was just raising awareness that it is not just the authorities that can now catch you doing a shade over the limits.
Tangents are good... !
The thing that really bugs me is the lack of consistency in punishment.
SCENARIO 1
Late summers evening - still daylight available. Dry dual carriageway - no cars in immediate vicinity. Driver cruising at 101mph. Picked up by
static camera van in distance... courts summons resulting in large fine and ban!
SCENARIO 2
Lunchtime - dull, wet and windy day. Busy town street (just outside school). Driver in a rush at at 37mph. Picked up by fixed camera... no courts
summons - 3 points and small fine.
Now you tell me who is the biggest danger / most irresponsible?
The 'civvies' are exactly that and have no power to prosecute you in any way, shape or form. The warning notices they send you are
worthless, throw them in the bin.
The problem only comes when, having clocked loads of speeders they can then legitimately inform police of a speeding problem and you may well find
that that road is then subject of some enforcement because a problem has been identified.
It's not something that is supported by a lot of forces and the warning letters are contrary to ACPO guidance.
I would say, though, that if a 30 mph speed limit has been put in place there's going to be a good reason for it. It's proven that many
people survive impacts at that speed and their chances go down significantly as the speed goes up.
The comment about dealing with real crimes like drink driving etc made me smile. Isn't that what most people say when they get stopped for those
sorts of offences?
Neil
I'm well out of step here, I must be the only one who thinks that speed cameras are a way of raising revenue and have as much to do with road
safety as blancmange.......
Cheers
Chris 
I agree Chris... static speed camera's are a complete joke! After a couple of weeks in situ the drivers all get to know the locations - slow
down and then speed up after.
I'd happily see the camera's removed and replaced with proper Police patrols that can monitor all types of driver behavior - not just speed!
And detect ALL motoring offences, not just speed.
Why is it that no one seems to be interested in all the other offences?
Who would you rather share the road with?
Man A who's driving a taxed tested and insured, well maintained car, sober and with no drugs in his system, in possestion of a valid licence -
but is doing 45 in a 40 zone or
Man B who's stoned and drunk in a car with bald tyres and no brakes. He'never taken a test, doesn't understand the concept of tax,
test or insurance (the car drives fine without them!) but he's just passed that camera at 39.5 mph?
Well?
Lets march on Downing Street and get em told!
from the comments on the biker thread:
"I think this guy should be tortured to death. Luckily for him, I don't live in England, otherwise I'd run him over with my Pinzgauer.
Lots of us would be happier. I say we all start carrying paint ball guns and shoot at him when spotted."
As flakmonkey states; speed, like guns, doesn't kill.
However in the wrong place and the wrong hands it can and in both instances it is usually some innocent buystander that gets it.
Especially if it's a policeman driving/holding the gun.
With the risk of a flaming, noise is also an issue with speed through villages. Our place is on a nice fairly wide straight road through our village, but has two playgrounds and a row of shops but at rush hour morning and evening to$$ers come flying through at 40-50. Not only is it way too fast to stop for a sprog, the increase in road noise is immense. No small wonder its Leilandai-ville. The villages round here are beautiful - no idea why on the weekends people hoon through.
Right speed doesn't kill, it is inappropriate speed which kills and bad driving. The problem is the more this is peddaled the more people see the
responsibilty taken away from them, at many times the speed limit is too fast but others feel they are okay as they are doing the speed limit.
These spped camera busy bodies have no authority which is why they cannot have a ticket issued. What theydo is to target people who have a diiferent
car who look to be going fast, or sound like it. They then pass on your details to the police who say you have been spotted. If you ever get such a
notice ask for certificates of daily checks and ask the chief constable to assure you that this is not a vindictive bunch of people who are harrasing
you.
As for the comment about how a parent would see it, this exactly the way Brake use victims as propaganda. The question should be asked in many cases
"where and what were you doing when your child was playing in the road and got killed"?
But no one wants to be that harsh to a parent who has lost a child so we allow them to build shrines and blame everyone else. The alrge majority of
accidents where people are killed are in built up areas within the speed limit.
Until we get proper policing back where the full gambit of driving is assesed not just some arbitury figure people will still be killed but not as a
result of sppeding.
There are more effective ways of reducing speed, flashing signs for example have been shown to be three times more effective at reducing average
speeds.
They don't make any money however.
Cheers
Chris
quote:
The question should be asked in many cases "where and what were you doing when your child was playing in the road and got killed"?
:mad
quote:
Originally posted by chrisg
There are more effective ways of reducing speed, flashing signs for example have been shown to be three times more effective at reducing average speeds.
They don't make any money however.
Cheers
Chris
It's not 'only' the drivers responsibility, what about the pedestrians? They appear from all over the place, between parked cars,
crossing at crossings when the red man is showing and just plain running out from nowhere.
The number of times I've had to slow down for 'invincible' people who see my car and cross anyway.
IMO it's just as much the pedestrians responsibility to look out for cars as it is car drivers to look out for pedestrians.
Anyway, I digress
^^^ wehat he said. on my way to work, there are 3 crossings withing about 100 m.
ok, one is near as school but you still see people crossing the road not using the crossing, too lazy to walk the 20 m or so to the crossing.
if you stick you finger into a minas pllug and die, then who'sfault is that?
if you step out in front of a car without looking firts and die, then who's fauilt is that? result is near jerk reaction for more crossings and
cameras.
the number oif people I see, young and old, that wlak out onto a zebra or other type of crossing without looking or not wiating for tradfic to
stop is unreal. there is defo a problem with education the masses on how to cross roads.
death is a high price for a small mistake.
quote:
Originally posted by v8kid
What about the father of some poor kid who has been killed by a speeding motorist. Do you think he would share such selfish and irresponsable views?
Bet He wishes the "biddies" and "pensioners" were around then.
Speeding on public roads kills and no more so than in built up areas.
If you want thrills go to a track day don't pedal tripe here.
Speed doesn't kill - cars, drivers and stupid pedestrians kill - I say ban them all, then other things like old age, war, disease and starvation
can control population growth.
In fact - lets ban old age as well.
The problem with speed limits is that they are often set with no reference to their actual relevance or efficacy in reducing accidents - their main
purpose is revenue generation or a gut reaction to one or two bad accidents where minor improvements in road markings or geometry would make a far
better impact on safety.
In Simon's Town we had a bend in the Main Road at Glencairn that led to an average of one accident a week. I surveyed the road and re-aligned the
centre line to more closely resemble the "racing line" reducing the accident situation to almost zero. One day whilst approaching the bend I
saw a motorcyclist off-line and said to my wife "watch this accident" and sure enough he hit the kerb, flipped off the bike and hit the
bridge rails with his body breaking it and himself to some extent.
One of the few accidents we had since then was a car, probably speeding, who saw a speed trap - slammed on his brakes and skidded through the wall
between the road and the railway line. So trapping kills - ban it as well