Row brews over talivan blues and twos
Should Norfolk's camera vans be conspicuous or not?
A row is brewing in Norfolk over whether or not mobile scamera vans should be visible. According to a former head of the county's speed cameras, removing blue lights and police logos plays into the hands of those claim it's all about revenue rather than safety. This follows Norfolk police chiefs' decision that it was 'inappropriate' for talivans to carry visible insignia because they were not emergency vehicles. It's reported that the force sought legal advice after Norfolk Police Authority member Angela Jordan raised the issue.
The casualty reduction partnership member in question, who resigned after a major review of the body's operations, asked if logos and lights should not now be stripped from other non-emergency police vehicles, since they had not yet been. He said he believed that it was important for the scamera vehicles to be clearly recognisable if the body' scameras are not to be seen as a money-making venture.
Parnell reportedly wrote that, "The law states that blue lights may only be fitted to vehicles used for police purposes. That is precisely the role of the camera enforcement vans. Only the police, either officers or civilian staff operating under the delegated authority of the chief constable, can carry out speed enforcement. This, together with the prosecution process, is precisely the role of the constabulary within the partnership.
"By significantly reducing conspicuity in this way, the chief constable is playing directly into the hands of those organisations and drivers who maintain that the cameras are only deployed for revenue gathering."
There's more on this story here: http://tinyurl.com/6w3wy
mcflurry said:
Then again...people have whined that cameravans are dangerous as people panic brake when seeing them...
If they didn't see them, they wouldn't panic brake..
and if the limits were set correctly the general public wouldn't need to brake
Poor that one, I'm afraid....Numptie brakers don't need excuses....
I've seen people brake in all sorts of speed limits...comes down to attention spans...
What was the last speed limit sign? Did I see it...or was I picking my nose?
Streetcop said:
The injustice of it all....
In my force, however, they are all BiB operating them..Street
OK point taken, But still cannot think why they should need blues and twos.......Talivans should be driving WITHIN the limits and they certainly have no need of police lights!!!!!or sirens for that matter......
JMGS4 said:
The injustice of it all....
In my force, however, they are all BiB operating them..
OK point taken, But still cannot think why they should need blues and twos.......Talivans should be driving WITHIN the limits and they certainly have no need of police lights!!!!!or sirens for that matter......
My force doesn't have vans with blues/twos.
However, I'm all in favour of every vehicle owned by the police and driven by officers to be fitted with some sort of siren and blue light equipment..(whether overt or covert)...Simply because incidents occur, often when you're doing something else and require urgent attention. For example, I've known SOCO officers to attend at burglary in progress shouts in their white vans with no blue lights or sirens out of their duty to the public.
Street
I drove past a mobile camera unit recently in a line of traffic. It wasnt until we were right on top of it that we all recognised it for what it was (they are not well marked in Somerset). The bloke in front panic-braked to less than 20mph even though we were already within the speed limit. I had left a decent gap and was able to brake safely in the TVR, but the bloke behind me was about 2 inches off my bumper by the time he had realised what was going on.
Promoting safety my arse......If that camera wasnt there our journey would have been much safer. Dibble said:
That picture's of a Lancashire camera van.
They've all had the "Police" markings and blue lights removed. They still have blue/yellow "Battenburg" livery, and orange roof and grille lights.
Thats all well and good but you cant see the livery if all you can see is the front of the van pointng towards you (if you're lucky, usually they're parked behind another vehicle so you cant see them at all).
Streetcop said:
Streetcop said:
Then again...people have whined that cameravans are dangerous as people panic brake when seeing them...
If they didn't see them, they wouldn't panic brake..
and if the limits were set correctly the general public wouldn't need to brake
Poor that one, I'm afraid....Numptie brakers don't need excuses....
I've seen people brake in all sorts of speed limits...comes down to attention spans...
What was the last speed limit sign? Did I see it...or was I picking my nose?
Whats speed got to do with SAFE driving?
Streetcop said:
Streetcop said:
Then again...people have whined that cameravans are dangerous as people panic brake when seeing them...
If they didn't see them, they wouldn't panic brake..
and if the limits were set correctly the general public wouldn't need to brake
Poor that one, I'm afraid....Numptie brakers don't need excuses....
I've seen people brake in all sorts of speed limits...comes down to attention spans...
Well can't we simplify things and get rid of them all, so nobody gets confused?
OK, so that's not possible, so we'll compromise eh.
We'll keep advisory speed limits in built up areas and bin the rest of them.
So have we got a deal then?
Oh good, I can settle for that.
Best wishes all,
Dave.
One point to note is that by comparison these vans practically scream their purpose in your face. The Aussie system involves a small radar gun mounted on a 2ft tripod placed by the side of the road. From there the cable runs down a side street to a totally hidden operator vehicle.
It's a totally extreme system: more covert and sneaky, yet the locations are known to everyone who's got a radio turned up.
Rick
I should know, as I was caught doing 95mph on the A11 by one of them, and given 3 points and £60 fine.
I only slowed when I read on it, Safety Camera Partnership, but obviously I was way too slow.
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