Thursday 21st July 2005

Campaign condemns 'constant vigil'

Speed limits not safety-oriented. says Safe Speed

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Constant vigilance required

Road safety campaign Safe Speed has issued a statement condemning "the constant vigil on speed" that drivers must maintain. It said this attention is being misdirected by "a wholly unjustified obsession with one particular and rather insignificant factor, not for safety reasons but in order to comply with the law."

Paul Smith, founder of the campaign said: "We have been unable to identify any other law where simple compliance requires constant vigilance. This alone is a warning sign that speed limits are unlike other laws -- there's a risk that too much enforcement will remove attention from something more important. And of course that's exactly what's happening."

Smith said: "We get quite a few emails from people who have acquired nine licence points. They describe their driving experience as paranoid. We can't understand why anyone would be foolish enough to think that such paranoia makes good drivers. And it's just the same for all of us, only less so."

Last year, Safe Speed revealed that speeding is involved in under four per cent of all road crashes, and that number includes many behaviours far removed from normal responsible motoring. Examples include speeding drunks, speeding joyriders, and nutters racing on the highway.

Smith said: "Speed cameras are wasting precious driver attention and making the roads more dangerous. The DfT appears to be waking up to the facts. How much longer do we have to wait until the infernal devices are removed from our roads and drivers can end their needless vigil?"

• www.safespeed.org.uk

[cjbolter]

I know I have said some of this before, but it bears repeating as an example of cameras being dangerous.

We have a SPECS set-up near here, on the Gainsborough Road east of Bawtry, which contains not only 12 sideroad junctions but also a 30mph section through the village of Everton.

This creates artificial speed differentials as those entering the system from side roads, or not going as far as the next camera in the chain, are not restricted !!!!.

Not only that danger but the local cretins with caps on back to front have worked out that if they tailgate close enough, the cameras can't see their front plate and they can do whatever speed they like between the cameras. I have even seen a BMW swap over to the other side of the road to go through the cameras !!!!.

VBR : CJ.

__________________________________________________

[havoc]

cjbolter said:

Not only that danger but the local cretins with caps on back to front have worked out that if they tailgate close enough, the cameras can't see their front plate and they can do whatever speed they like between the cameras.

Solution to the chav's...slow right down, tap the brakes gently, then nail it...their number plate becomes visible, and your average still doesn't creep up.

Alternatively, come to a complete stop, get out of car, walk up to chavs, reach in, pull bonnet release, rip out HT lead and walk back to your car!

[regmolehusband]

Oh!! You mean you don't do that??? It seems quite natural to me to follow a lorry closely as I pass the first specs camera! I can concentrate entirely on the road thereafter.

Sadly, as more and more people start to do this then accidents will occur.........

[Mr Whippy]

Just stop and stick a wet newspaper over your plate at the start of every journey past specs.

Easy.

Dave

[havoc]

regmolehusband said:

Sadly, as more and more people start to do this then accidents will occur.........

Precisely why I don't do it!

I may think SPECS is one of the worst-thought-through schemes on our roads, but I won't let anything force me into driving dangerously.

I for one think tailgating is a far bigger problem on the roads than speeding, but I must be in a minority given the number of idiots I see doing just that.

[parrot of doom]

Mr Whippy said:

Just stop and stick a wet newspaper over your plate at the start of every journey past specs. Easy. Dave

hah thats bloody ace

[paulu]

Gatso's - They will remove them in time beacuse they will be able to find out where when and at what speed you went at from the downloads from your GPS systems when MOT takes place and via the ANPR and Specs also the son of specs systems that are to be installed in traffic signal controllers.

Existing CCTV systems around the country are now undergoing changes which add ANPR to them. The information from this will be held on DATA bases for up to 7 years.

This is happening in the guise of calculating average journey times to validate the time saved by using public transport instead of your car, as well as providing police intelligence. So how the police choose to use this information is anyones guess.

Who knows how the powers that be will choose to use this information, but I have no doubts it will be used in the end to cash in on the motorist.


Big brother IS watching!!

>> Edited by paulu on Thursday 21st July 17:25

[Peter Ward]

paulu said:

...This is happening in the guise of calculating average journey times to validate the time saved by using public transport instead of your car...

This is a joke, right? Or perhaps they will introduce two bus lanes each way on every motorway to ensure it comes true?

[blackcat]

Banning people for minor speeding offences seems to me to be counterproductive - they wonder why the number of people driving without tax and insurance is rising - do they think banning "Some" people stops them driving, don't think so, our local paper has about 10 people per week caught driving without a licence (and that must be the tip of the iceberg) - guess what their penalty is - disqualification!

It appears that they have to be caught 3 or 4 times before they are threatend with jail, truth is there are so many outlaw drivers now that they can't jail them - well unless they build a lot more prisons!

[havoc]

So the answer is for anything other than a <1month "mistake" (being fair, it is quite possible that someone forgets to renew dead on time...not right, but feasible, and they're not necessarily an anti-social chav), to take their cars away and crush/recycle them.

And if they're driving someone else's at the time, with consent, THAT car gets crushed. If it's without consent, then they're guilty of car theft and can be sent down!!!

[paulu]

What I have said is true, and it is only going to get worse. look at TFL, if you do a mistake and do a u turn for example to correct it, you will be caught on camera and depending on where you are you will get a fine. It is OK to do that to locals who know the area but to people who are visiting it is a bit unfair.

It is all going to get worse, the son of specs its the real c u next tuesday, a camera in each junction (ANPR) it will track your journey and calculate if you have done a burn in between junctions and issue a fine.

These systems cost an absolute fortune to implement, but the revenues that they will create are massive. Start complaining about it now before the government starts to go too far.

[Einion Yrth]

paulu said:

... before the government starts to go too far.

I fear that particular horse has long since bolted.

[Sgt^Roc]

True story;

One time back travelling into home to pick the family 2 BMW's came toward me bouncing over the speed bumps racing each other, as I got to the top of the hill along the straight piece of road a small jeep tripped the Gatos going out of town and last as I drove down the hill a Jaguar car with 4 people in was coming up the hill half on my side of the road with no headlights on.

I know I some times rant and rave a bit on this forum but in truth this is a pure example of how these cameras truly affect road safety; the two BMW driving knew there would be no Police presence hence their racing I forgot to mention they also cut around mini-roundabout the wrong way. The latest incident of dangerous driving was a green saloon racing up to other driving and tailgating them “hard” that had 2 policemen in it.

I sure the Police and other safety partnership will be content catching the speeder on their Gatos but in reality this story is a typical of how these cameras have reversed road safety.


>> Edited by Sgt^Roc on Friday 22 July 16:05

>> Edited by Sgt^Roc on Friday 22 July 16:06

[castroneves]

Sgt^Roc are you by any chance an XTC fan?, soz this is abit off topic but it jus sprung to mind.

[rich 36]

'Keep the girl in line, wave the victry' siiiiggnnn'

[castroneves]

^^^ He knows