Motorway Speed Cameras To Be Rolled Out

[Nostradormouse]

Argh! Call me sad, but the thing that REALLY annoys me about the whole 'Speed Kills' campaign is that we all know it's not, in fact, speed that kills (astronauts survive perfectly well in orbit), it's IMPULSE... that is, rate of change of momentum...

Once the anti-speed campaigners sort their use of the English language out, I might listen to them a little more...

If speed is used sensibly (drive to the conditions, surroundings etc) then 100mph is about as 'safe' as 70...the Autobahn concept seems to work reasonably (no idea about specific accident/congestion stats though)... but over here we always seem to pander to the few who ruin it for the many :-(

[gentleman2012]

Pip1968 said:

Amen to that. Amateurs that have managed to get a licence.

Pip

As my dear old Dad said to me when I passed my test: "Well done for achieving the absolute minimum standard for passing - now go out and learn to drive...."

Driving standards do seem just a little poorer than they were in the 70s!

Edited by gentleman2012 on Tuesday 4th February 21:00

[Chlamydia]

Do variable speed limits work? I'm happy to be convinced they do but whenever I've been on the M25 and they've been in force all they've seemed to do is cause traffic build up.

[TimS2000]

Chlamydia said:

Do variable speed limits work? I'm happy to be convinced they do but whenever I've been on the M25 and they've been in force all they've seemed to do is cause traffic build up.

Same here - particularly so when they randomly go up and down on free flowing sections with no change in the traffic volume - all of a sudden you have to drop 10/20mph to avoid getting a fine and you automatically have a massive bunching of traffic
I also particularly dislike a section on the M25 where it is 4 or 5 lanes, traffic is light and has been flowing smoothly at 70mph, and then you come to a junction which is obviously poorly designed and the slip road has a back log onto the first carriageway - all of a sudden 4 nearly empty free flowing lanes have to slow to 40mph...

[Dreamspeed]

The issue shouldn't be what they are using the cameras for today, but what could they be used for in the future.

It's the boiling frog experiment in play here. If the government sharply introduced a speed camera system that watched our every move across UK roads, we'd all be in up roar, but if they do it slowly and say it's not for speeding tickets, but congestion (Which is government made BTW) then everyone just buries their heads back in the sand.

So the question should be, what COULD these cameras do in the future? In my opinion it's not looking good.

[jmorgan]

Yeah, they can find out you went to work.....

[SteveSteveson]

Rude-boy said:

SteveSteveson said:

....drivers refuse to understand that speeding on busy motorways causes congestion and steady traffic flow is better...

Quote edited.

I might be helped in getting my head around it if we had variable limits with a sensible maximum speed to reflect the road and weather conditions.

Until we move on from a figure effectively plucked from thin air 40+ years ago to a range that reflects 2014 then we might get somewhere. Until then though most will continue to ignore what is an outdated and out moded arbitrary figure. If people can see the logic in why they should or shouldn't be doing something then they are far more likely to comply with the regulations surrounding it. If they do not see the relevance or reasoning (ie 50mph in thick traffic in serious rain, yet only 70mph on a clear, dry and empty road)then they will ignore what they are told. See why people don't often jump off cliffs but happily swim in Mill Pools and weirs.

And just like swimming in mill ponds and weirs just because people do it doesn't make it a good idea.

Even when there is heavy traffic many people try and drive as fast as they can, ignoring speed limits. The thing is people are not good at understanding circumstances on a large scale. They just pile along a motorway at 80/90/100 and then get angry when traffic snarls up where you have lorries overtaking in lanes 1 and two and a traffic jam behind because someone doing 70 wanted to go past and the people doing over 70 all pile up and slam there brakes on, slowing the whole road behind down as the jump around lanes.

The same way people can't understand that the roads would be clearer if they would move out of the middle lane "Well the motorway is clear, so why do I need to move over?".

The other thing is, people love to point to "a 40 year old rule" but most small cars will not cruse at 80+mph.

[dcb]

SteveSteveson said:

The other thing is, people love to point to "a 40 year old rule" but most small cars will not cruse at 80+mph.

Nonsense.

For example, even the slowest version of the lowly Fiat 500 with 1.2L
8V with 69PS will do 99 mph.

The only cars that I can think of that won't do 80 mph are
the Peel P50, the various bubble cars and the 2CV.

[jmorgan]

Our festa will not cruise at 80. 65-70 is best for it. Not a company car user you see.

[grumpy52]

With the combination of very poorly designed motorway junctions and the commuting publics abysmal driving standards is it a wonder that all the regular congestion on motorways is at intersections for population areas.
m6 north on friday pm every junction from Birmingham to the M62 down to 40 mph then back to 60, it's just caused by piss poor and inconsiderate driving .

[Vipers]

Read the link on the first post, exceeding 70 on the M25?

Didn't know you could

[alfaholic1001]

Now if they could use these or some other device to see that people are tailgating at an unsafe distance/speed combination id be all for them as whenever im in a jam on the motorway when you finally reach the point where the cars are all at the side of the road its nearly always nose to tail shunts where no-one is hurt (fortunately) but has held every one up for hrs cause they dont appreciate or apply safe stopping distances.

That I would happily applaud them being on every road

[woof]

The HADECS3 cameras that are between Junc 23-25 on the M25 are set very low. Somewhere between 80-85mph will set them off. Although I don't believe they're sending out tickets yet. In the first few days of these I set it off going through at 90mph. Not received anything and it's almost 8 weeks now - so hopefully won't hear anything.

[AA999]

I bought some number-plate 'flippers' from the states a while ago.....think its time to fit them

Too many cases of the 'war on the motorist', surprised many others aren't using them already....maybe they are?

[Galsia]

I got chatting to a Motorway Police Officer (dunno what they are officially called) while I was having a coffee at a motorway service station who was about to quit after 30 years due to the changes that his management had made to the job. Apparantly he was no longer allowed to drive more than 40 miles per day when previously his patrol could cover almost 200 miles. This was to save on petrol.

We don't need more cameras, we need more police.

[MMC]

Thing is, we're using speed limits now to do a job for which they were never intended:



ETA

Sorry not allowed.

[MrBrightSi]

Thanks MMC, i'd never be able to word it so well.

It's what ive been trying to get at on here for ages, or get across to the rightous speed limit brigade.

[Willy Nilly]

MMC said:

Thing is, we're using speed limits now to do a job for which they were never intended:

common sense

[MMC]

MrBrightSi said:

Thanks MMC, i'd never be able to word it so well.

It's what ive been trying to get at on here for ages, or get across to the rightous speed limit brigade.

Thanks! Limits are numbers on sticks set by local councillors. There's no science in them. They're a useful guide for the inexperienced and unfamiliar, but to treat them as gospel is like fining people for walking on the cracks in the pavements. And now they're set to the mean average speed (rather than the 85th percentile :censored. drivers are treating them with contempt.

ETA

Sorry not allowed.

Edited by Big Al. on Monday 16th February 18:01

[MMC]

MrBrightSi said:

Thanks MMC, i'd never be able to word it so well.

It's what ive been trying to get at on here for ages, or get across to the rightous speed limit brigade.

Thanks! Limits are numbers on sticks set by local councillors. There's no science in them. They're a useful guide for the inexperienced and unfamiliar, but to treat them as gospel is like fining people for walking on the cracks in the pavements. And now they're set to the mean average speed (rather than the 85th percentile drivers are treating them with contempt.