20 years of the Gatso
An unhappy anniversary as we (don't) celebrate two decades of camera-based speed limit enforcement
The westbound stretch was called an "accident blackspot" by then Minister for Transport in London, Steven Norris, who was quoted in the Richmond and Twickenham Times the following week.
Judging from data from the camera trial, drivers certainly hoofed it round this 40mph-limited right-hand bend. The police officer leading the camera program, Roger Reynolds, told the paper the trial camera snapped 22,939 drivers travelling over 65mph in just 22 days.
And when it was switched on, it caught 20 cars running over 70mph in the first week. Hilariously the drivers faced not just a fine (income dependent) but 'possible disqualification', according to the paper. You could be caught doing anything up to double the urban speed limit and still just receive the £32 fixed penalty notice.
PistonHeads tracked down Reynolds, now retired from the police force, to ask him about that comparative early leniency. "Speeding's a pyramid," he told us. "Everybody speeds, but in a 30 most are doing 30-35mph, fewer are doing 40-45mph and at the top people are doing 60mph. So we said let's start at the top."
He said that Twickenham camera was only set to flash at 60mph. "The whole point was remind people about speed, not to catch them." To that end he said only one in eight of the early cameras actually had the full £10,000 worth of kit inside them. The rest just had a rudimentary version of the Doppler radar - just enough to set off a flash but costing only £1,000.
Even today, the AA reckons only about 500-600 cameras can actually log your speed.
Reynolds went on to oversee London's camera network, but after he left the police in 1999 he became angry at the escalation of fines and the ever lower reduction in trigger speed. Especially when the 'netting off' system in 2000 let local authorities keep a percentage of the income.
"When you put a camera in, the number of speeders always reduces. Suddenly there's no money coming in, so they drop the trigger speed from 38mph to 35mph to pay the bills," he told us. "What good it does it do? It just alienates you from the public."
So yes, birthday wishes to the Gatso, but very few GOOD wishes.
28 in a 20 going across tower bridge at midnight and 38 in a 30. The fines, although not welcome, are acceptable, but the points are punitive for this sort of driving offence.
I know have a road angel and a dashcam to level the playing field
And the first thing the government does at the start of a new budget year, is jack up the dracionian tariffs even further...
Comparatively, the UK still has it good.
And the first thing the government does at the start of a new budget year, is jack up the dracionian tariffs even further...
Comparatively, the UK still has it good.
i dont know anyone that has, are they real or just a massively expensive scaremongering technique?
And the first thing the government does at the start of a new budget year, is jack up the dracionian tariffs even further...
Comparatively, the UK still has it good.
I've been caught out once by a scamera that was sited behind a small trailer which was purposely put on (and blocking) the sidewalk...
One of my life's biggest regrets, my chance to change Society for the better, and I failed.
I once indirectly got caught for speeding by it, I slowed down for it and in doing so a plain clothes car caught up with me, stupidly I thought they "had not got me" ... but it turned out they had, all the way from Richmond Circus.
THEN there is the issue of the camera's inflexibility - not taking into account of conditions etc. and reliability.
Is it REALLY acceptable that innocent drivers are being penalised for offences that they have not committed - no matter how few?
If they were any good as a safety device, nobody would be getting caught by them after 20 years!
i dont know anyone that has, are they real or just a massively expensive scaremongering technique?
However, I've yet to hear of anyone being caught by average speed cameras.
just shows the speed limit was wrong, otherwise there should have been lots more accidents.
I've never heard anyone get caught on the fixed varible speed cameras tho.
Its getting silly around here with motorway cameras.
Most of the south section of the M25 has them although im not sure they work.
A1M has them from M25 to Milton Keynes.
M2 or 20 (Cant remember) has varible cameras now.
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