RE: Stop the Madness
Tuesday 12th June 2001
Stop the Madness
Will Blunkett save the motorist?
Discussion
So we have seen the term "Speed-Camera" subtly replaced with the expression "Safety-Camera" by the Newspeak wordsmiths in a cynical attempt to make "speeding as socially unacceptable as drunk-driving", but with this new announcement the police authorities have sunk to an all time low!
Knowing that they are rapidly loosing the respect of the public, now in attempt to convince the public that installing 1,000''s of new Speed Cameras is acceptable they are telling us that Home Office figures show that 60% - YES 60% - of drivers caught by a Camera have committed some other criminal offence such as burglary.
So there you have it chaps, it''s OK for the police to scatter Speed-Cameras like confetti because there''s a more than even chance "you are all criminals anyway”!
That’s all right then – Rich… 
I thought that the point was that the 60 % of people who have commited a criminal offence are getting away with it because they no longer get stopped for the motoring offence and the nicked tv's in the back being spotted , because plod just relies on cameras now.
SO cameras are lowering the dectection of real crime!!!!!!!!!
didnt the yanks catch the guy that they nuked yesterday because he was driving a van with on number plates.... with a speed camera they would never have caught him......
Don't pin your hopes on Mr. Blunkett guys, being married to a teacher I can vouch first hand for the f*&k up he has made of the education system. He made 'targets' for education, then made the tests for kids outside of this range harder so they failed then the tests for the kids in his 'target area' easier, guess what the pass rate went up!! What makes anyone think he is suddenly going to change anything for the good of motorists???
We have to face it, we are easy bait now waiting to be picked off, because it's easy revenue. "Oh all the money we get from cameras will pay for more officers to fight crime" My arse! it will it will go on more cameras.
OK I'm off to buy a horse, mashing cast iron shoes into the road and damaging the surface without having to pay any road tax towards the upkeep, leaving piles of steaming **** on quiet side roads where kids try to enjoy themselves without having to pick it up and put it in a bag and take it home, and I'm not likely to get done for speeding either!!!!
Rant Over. 
I'd like to have a short rant about horses too : How come you have to be 17 and pass tests to show competence and then pay the government lots of money to be able to take a car or bike on the road, but a 6 year old with practically no training can put on the back of a tonne of horse, which they couldn't possible control if it decided not to do what it was told, and they don't even have to pay for the privilege. Not only that but they expect motorists that pay to use the road to queue up slowly behind them while they fanny about on thier unprocessed dog food form of transport !!!
There, that was a good one. I feel much better.
Horses and roads don't mix - keep the bloody things in a field or on bridle paths !
I did once conduct an interesting experiment in reaction times involving the local hunt, a T-junction and dropping the clutch at 5,000 rpm ! Gave a few of them a shock, I can tell you !
And in case anyone's going to complain, none of the dumb animals (the ones on the back of the horses) were injured......unfortunately.
As an adendum to my point earlier, would any 4x4 owners here like to come down to Hampshire and charge uncontrolably around a field of horses, while I sit on a fence watching with the occasional 'ahhh look at that Landie isn't it lovely' or similar? Wonder how long before the horse owners started moaning about cars being in fields. I'd love to join in but my car as a tad low to the ground 
God who started me on horses and owners?? Opps, yes, sorry.
God who started me on horses and owners?? Opps, yes, sorry. 
quote:Well for a start I think we should paint the cameras bright yellow so we can all see them. They are supposed to be put at accident black spots therefore we would only be pointing out to other motorist that this is an accident black spot, not purverting the cource of justice. Could you get done for painting a camera as long as you leave it in working order, theretically you are extending its life? Paul
What can be done?
Cotty - I think one of the police forces has started doing that, or at least have said they will be doing it (big difference !!) for the very reasons you mentioned.
However, other than a concerted effort on our part and lobbying to MP's we're not going to get anything changed by moaning about it on a few web-sites like this one.
Personally I'd like to see a system whereby camera sites have to be justified on pure safety grounds, i.e. if you see a camera then you ought to be able to challenge the police or local authorities as to why it was sited there. If they can't produce any long-term history of accidents at that spot then they ought to be made to remove them. They are, after all, paid for with our council tax as well the revenues they generate.
OK, so I may be dreaming, but if we don't do anything then we'll only have ourselves to blame when there's a camera aimed at every driver on the road !
I believe it was Devon and Cornwall Police who have been painting their cameras luminous pink.
Anyone from that area confirm?
Suprisingly though the accident rate went down and the speeding ticket revenue came down too as far as I remember...
Wonder if they are still painting them...
I'm in the process of compiling my incoherent ramblings at the moment !
I wrote to him a while back about the proposed new road traffic penalties and got confirmation back that they were goig to challenge the proposals.
I'm now sifting out the other rubbish for another attempt, more specifically aimed at speed cameras.
I'll let you have a copy of whatever I come up with. Won't be for a little while as I'm off to Le Mans tomorrow !!
SOunds like another section for Ted, Letters to send to your MP.....
As my MP is the only independant i'll give him a go, especially as he is a classic car fan with a 69 Lotus...
when asked about speed limits he replied
somthing like " in some areas speed limits need to come down, but limits need to be appropriate for the road and the conditions. limits should be properly evaluated and this would mean some limits going up as well as down"
anyone know which mp's are car enthusisasts, might be worth targeting them first...
G
with all due respect to everyone here....you only actually get caught if you break the law. It really is that simple. The complaint seems to be that its now too easy to get caught...yet I bet most people here wouldnt mind if they came up with some sort of 'auto-burglar detector' would they?
My real complaint is that the speeding laws are outdated, seemingly random and generally a load of old toss. I dont think you can win anything based on a 'its not fair, its too hard to break the law now'....rather than 'the law is irrevelevant to modern driving and should be reviewed'
no offence guys, but IMO the arguments are just wrong.....
what Id most like to do is write a comprehensive transport policy on what could be done from start to finish to alter the UK driving experience for everyone (including driver education, public transport and how to actually get people to use it, car related crime etc etc etc) but I dont think I necessarily know enough, and I doubt anyone would read it.......
Night
Nightmare, I do agree that it is patently simple, go to fast past camera, get caught.
However, I have noticed that a heck of a lot of Roads that used to be National limits incl Dual Carriageways suddenly drop to 40, or 50, or in some cases 30, and two weeks after the new speed limits, come the Speed Cameras..Hmmm
The thing that annoys me is that I often see speed cameras at the bottom of hills, or round a corner but NEVER have I seen one outside or near a school
( Though lets be fair, a traffic cop did sit hidden behind a car in Billericay near a school with a radar gun, the only thing was, it was a Saturday )
I do agree that speed limits were set years ago and the whole process needs reviewing
Edited by Jason F on Tuesday 12th June 17:31
If only it were that simple, but the law concerning speed limits is so badly abused that it now commands no respect from the motorist. You are entitled to your opinion, although I believe you are wrong to accept the situation.
many speed limits have been needlessly reduced throughout the UK over the last few years, 30 mph zones have been extended so far outside hamlets & villages that they errode the National Speed Limit (60 mph) sections, main A roads which were once 60mph or 70 mph in the case of dual carriageways, have been restricted to 50 mph or even 40 mph in most cases for no apparent reason. Speed Cameras are then installed to earn more revenue for the police authorites from these unresonably restricted roads.
I will continue to campaign for correctly set speed limits, by writing to my MP and local authorites whenever possible, whatever litle effect it has, I feel happy that it contributes something.
Badly set law should be challenged - not quietly accepted Rich...
Rich...
from what I've read on this site it's bloody obvious that we are all of the same opinion regarding outdated speed limits and the unscrupulous methods of revenue earning. I feel that we need something to support that will fight our corner and that can only be the ABD, my MP couldn't give a toss for my personal opinions so what else can I do, emmigrate? AR5E !!!!
The sad reality is that speeding is now turning into just another stealth tax - I would much rather just pay an extra 60 quid a year on my Council tax than constantly concentrate on keeping my eyes peeled so my insurance stays down and my license intact.
The government should take a look at the Dutch system - if you speed and get caught you pay a fine, no points or court appearances (unless totally stupid), and your license stays intact. I think we would all be less touchy about the whole speeding thing if it didn't mean so much hassle getting caught.
Jim
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