Knock on effect of Speed Cameras
Discussion
We all know that speed is not the main killer on the roads today and that all aspects of bad driving are.
When you see a Speed Camera at the side of the road, you not only slow down to the limit or check your speed but it does make you concentrate for a while. Even if its only for a few minutes then surely its a good thing.
Im noit writing this to annoy people but when you think about it, its a valid point surely.
When you see a Speed Camera at the side of the road, you not only slow down to the limit or check your speed but it does make you concentrate for a while. Even if its only for a few minutes then surely its a good thing.
Im noit writing this to annoy people but when you think about it, its a valid point surely.
Tonyrec said:
When you see a Speed Camera at the side of the road, you not only slow down to the limit or check your speed but it does make you concentrate for a while. Even if its only for a few minutes then surely its a good thing.
Im noit writing this to annoy people but when you think about it, its a valid point surely.
Nah. You're clutching at straws. The only things that speed cameras make people concentrate on are speed limits, cameras, speedos, their driving licences and official lies about road safety.
Sorry , but I see it as an unnecessary distraction, not as an aid to concentration.
I'm looking for moving objects when I'm driving - cars, people, animals, or in the dark for reflections of light. Looking for a stationery yellow square 8 feet it the air isn't something I want to concentrate on - let me watch the road for traffic and pedestrians please.
I'm looking for moving objects when I'm driving - cars, people, animals, or in the dark for reflections of light. Looking for a stationery yellow square 8 feet it the air isn't something I want to concentrate on - let me watch the road for traffic and pedestrians please.
safespeed said:
Nah. You're clutching at straws. The only things that speed cameras make people concentrate on are speed limits, cameras, speedos, their driving licences and official lies about road safety.
How am i clutching at straws?
I know how i react when i see one and im no different to everyone else.
Tonyrec said:
Nah. You're clutching at straws. The only things that speed cameras make people concentrate on are speed limits, cameras, speedos, their driving licences and official lies about road safety.
How am i clutching at straws?
I know how i react when i see one and im no different to everyone else.
I simply don't believe that speed cameras make anyone concentrate on the road ahead. They make us concentrate on unimportant things, not important things.
Personally I try to concentrate all the time, whereas speed cameras make people concentrate on their speed, not the road.
Speed cameras have failed to make our roads safer, but have succeded in criminalising and 'punishing' a large proportion of society, sending out the wrong safety messages, alienating the Police and authorities (and they wonder why crimes are on the up) but their most resounding success has been as a form of taxation.
I must congratulate the Government on their sterling contribution to a better society
Scrap the lot and (re)introduce proper roads Policing (not loads of coppers with speed-guns).
>> Edited by catso on Wednesday 24th November 12:30
Speed cameras have failed to make our roads safer, but have succeded in criminalising and 'punishing' a large proportion of society, sending out the wrong safety messages, alienating the Police and authorities (and they wonder why crimes are on the up) but their most resounding success has been as a form of taxation.
I must congratulate the Government on their sterling contribution to a better society
Scrap the lot and (re)introduce proper roads Policing (not loads of coppers with speed-guns).
>> Edited by catso on Wednesday 24th November 12:30
Hi, Tonyrec, I believe that the speed activated flashing "30" signs have been shown to reduce driver's speeds for three times as long as scameras. So if you believe that the period of reduced speed is a period of increased concentration (which I don't) then presumably these signs are 3 times as good at making ppl concentrate.
deeen said:
Hi, Tonyrec, I believe that the speed activated flashing "30" signs have been shown to reduce driver's speeds for three times as long as scameras. So if you believe that the period of reduced speed is a period of increased concentration (which I don't) then presumably these signs are 3 times as good at making ppl concentrate.
Fair comment and i dont dispute that.
I was followed by police the other day, through a 30mph zone. I slowed to 30mph, while a gap about 300m long opened up infront of ME!
Usually people go 40mph+ in this zone, up until it gets to the proper 30mph bit, where most people go sub 30mph because of the crossing and junctions and things.
What really got me was the amount of time I spend "making sure" I wasn't going above 30mph.
I know how pedantic the system is getting today, and even a few mph over will have a scamera clock you, so why not a police officer for the same thing.
All a speed camera makes me do is stop driving the way I normally do, very passively to what is going on around me, and using that to determine my defensiveness and speed etc. But I go into zombie mode, and simpy gorpe straight ahead while checking my speed very often... I simply don't want to be caught out, no matter what.
After the scamera, I open her up again and get back into my passive driving mode, right away being more observant of my surroundings and driving appropriately.
You could say I should drive like that past the camera, all normally and naturally like it's not there, but if I did, i would certainly run the risk of being the odd mph over the limit, and gets points.
That REALLY IS NOT WORTH THE RISK... I don't care if thats wrong, but I find it hard to drive naturally and fluently while being watched, and end up with a fine and points and risk of loss of lisence!
Think of it like being watched while having a dump or a p*ss, you just can't do it, or if you do it's usually not a smooth process
Driving is similar, the moment a camera is watching you, you become very concious of it, and only your speed matters to you! You can't be calm and collected when some machine could suddenly give you 3 points, make you a criminal and make you £60 quid short!
Ultimately, what p*sses me off, is that they KNOW where the accident blackspots are, so why don't they re-engineer the road so it ISNT a blackspot anymore.
Instead they throw up a distracting box to further take your attention away when infact if the road is kept in it's current poor state, you need all your wits about you!
I'd prefer more police on the roads, since I see more people making a nuisance of themselves and being dangerous because they are complete muppets, than I see people and go, "OMG, he's going so fast he'll kill someone, where is a speed camera when you need one!"
Police will catch the former, not scamera's... Plain and simple.
Road deaths are up, scamera's don't work, Plain and Simple!
Dave
Usually people go 40mph+ in this zone, up until it gets to the proper 30mph bit, where most people go sub 30mph because of the crossing and junctions and things.
What really got me was the amount of time I spend "making sure" I wasn't going above 30mph.
I know how pedantic the system is getting today, and even a few mph over will have a scamera clock you, so why not a police officer for the same thing.
All a speed camera makes me do is stop driving the way I normally do, very passively to what is going on around me, and using that to determine my defensiveness and speed etc. But I go into zombie mode, and simpy gorpe straight ahead while checking my speed very often... I simply don't want to be caught out, no matter what.
After the scamera, I open her up again and get back into my passive driving mode, right away being more observant of my surroundings and driving appropriately.
You could say I should drive like that past the camera, all normally and naturally like it's not there, but if I did, i would certainly run the risk of being the odd mph over the limit, and gets points.
That REALLY IS NOT WORTH THE RISK... I don't care if thats wrong, but I find it hard to drive naturally and fluently while being watched, and end up with a fine and points and risk of loss of lisence!
Think of it like being watched while having a dump or a p*ss, you just can't do it, or if you do it's usually not a smooth process
Driving is similar, the moment a camera is watching you, you become very concious of it, and only your speed matters to you! You can't be calm and collected when some machine could suddenly give you 3 points, make you a criminal and make you £60 quid short!
Ultimately, what p*sses me off, is that they KNOW where the accident blackspots are, so why don't they re-engineer the road so it ISNT a blackspot anymore.
Instead they throw up a distracting box to further take your attention away when infact if the road is kept in it's current poor state, you need all your wits about you!
I'd prefer more police on the roads, since I see more people making a nuisance of themselves and being dangerous because they are complete muppets, than I see people and go, "OMG, he's going so fast he'll kill someone, where is a speed camera when you need one!"
Police will catch the former, not scamera's... Plain and simple.
Road deaths are up, scamera's don't work, Plain and Simple!
Dave
Tonyrec said:
We all know that speed is not the main killer on the roads today and that all aspects of bad driving are.
When you see a Speed Camera at the side of the road, you not only slow down to the limit or check your speed but it does make you concentrate for a while. Even if its only for a few minutes then surely its a good thing.
Im noit writing this to annoy people but when you think about it, its a valid point surely.
I'm concentrating anyway. The only thing a camera does is make me aware of the stupidity of the legal limit 'cos normally I am driving to condition and am probably a much better judge of the safe speed rather than some arbitrarily imposed limit which has no intelligence to judge right or wrong.
Limits appear to be set (where thought has been applied
) for heavily loaded trucks in the wet. The downside of cameras is the jamming on of brakes by the unaware - especially galling when you are @ or below the posted limit.
Tonyrec said:
We all know that speed is not the main killer on the roads today and that all aspects of bad driving are.
When you see a Speed Camera at the side of the road, you not only slow down to the limit or check your speed but it does make you concentrate for a while. Even if its only for a few minutes then surely its a good thing.
Im noit writing this to annoy people but when you think about it, its a valid point surely.
My observation is that people slow down for cameras and then immediately speed up again, just to make the point. Because cameras are often NOT placed at the blackspot but some way before it, this can actually increase average speeds at the most dangerous spot.
Petty and small-minded behaviour perhaps, but I'm sure we've all seen it. If we must have the cameras doing the policing, let's at least have them where the danger is, rather than on the nice straight road that just happens to be "within 1km of the hotspot".
Tonyrec said:
They make us concentrate on unimportant things, not important things.
Like the speed limit i presume.
I think the problem here is that i see it from both sides.
Look at it this way:
Almost every accident is preceded by an opportunity to avoid it.
If we are paying attention to the speed limit, the speedo, a camera or the risk of a camera, we are LESS LIKELY to succeed in avoiding the accident.
Most accidents are avoided.
Therefore in the run up to every accident there's always something far more important that the speed limit. We're about to try to avoid crashing.
But the point is surely are you more likey to have an accident above the speed limit, for argument let's say in the high 40's in 40, when you're concentrating on the road, or when you're concentrating on not going above 40 because you know there's a camera about, but you're not sure where and you don want to have drifted over 40 when you go though it.
Cameras only add to the driver workload and raise driver's stress levels. Not a good thing.
Cameras only add to the driver workload and raise driver's stress levels. Not a good thing.
Cameras provenly CAUSE accidents due to distraction from the normal road conditions, anyone who thinks otherwise is either a legal pedant, a scamerati himself, or a greenie without a driving qualification (NOTE I did NOT say without a license as a great majority of GB numpty drivers today would never pass an EU standard driving test either practical or written)!
CAMERAS CAUSE ACCIDENTS!!!!
CAMERAS CAUSE ACCIDENTS!!!!
TonyRec said:
So what youre saying is, 'dont speed and you will have more time to react and avoid an Accident'
Assuming that "speeding" is travelling at an inappropriate speed for the conditions, then yes. However, we know that the government considers "speeding" to be a violation of arbitrarily imposed limits that often have been selected with little consideration of the immediate surrounding conditions.
>> Edited by jeremyc on Wednesday 24th November 13:31
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