panic braking re speed cameras
Discussion
Hi guys n gals
Not posted for a while because things have been hectic recently.
Anyway, yesterday I was travelling down the A40 in the middle lane at an indicated 65mph in my car in the vicinity of a camera that has been there for years. I used to live in this area so know it well.
A guy in the outside lane travelling at approx 85mph in an old volvo, obviously hadnt seen the camera. He had gone past it and then presumably suddenly realised it was there and hit the anchors and lost control. Well he lost control, skidded and the car spun round and veered across my lane and came to rest facing the wrong way in the nearside lane. As soon as I saw him start to lose control I eased up and gently braked. Amazingly no cars were hit. This could have been distastrous. Comments anyone?
Not posted for a while because things have been hectic recently.
Anyway, yesterday I was travelling down the A40 in the middle lane at an indicated 65mph in my car in the vicinity of a camera that has been there for years. I used to live in this area so know it well.
A guy in the outside lane travelling at approx 85mph in an old volvo, obviously hadnt seen the camera. He had gone past it and then presumably suddenly realised it was there and hit the anchors and lost control. Well he lost control, skidded and the car spun round and veered across my lane and came to rest facing the wrong way in the nearside lane. As soon as I saw him start to lose control I eased up and gently braked. Amazingly no cars were hit. This could have been distastrous. Comments anyone?
blademan said:
Hi guys n gals
Not posted for a while because things have been hectic recently.
Anyway, yesterday I was travelling down the A40 in the middle lane at an indicated 65mph in my car in the vicinity of a camera that has been there for years. I used to live in this area so know it well.
A guy in the outside lane travelling at approx 85mph in an old volvo, obviously hadnt seen the camera. . Comments anyone?
Is this the one by the Hillingdon (Station )slip road by any chance ?
>> Edited by axj on Wednesday 8th June 13:38
Watching a "police camera action" program on sky one ages ago, there was a traffic cop in usa doing speed checks with a gun.
A truck saw him, brakend and jackniofed the truck.
Apparently he was only going marginally over the speed limit so the argument would be, would the accident have happened if the speed check was not there that day?
Answer = no.
Money money money money money money
A truck saw him, brakend and jackniofed the truck.
Apparently he was only going marginally over the speed limit so the argument would be, would the accident have happened if the speed check was not there that day?
Answer = no.
Money money money money money money
"saftey" cameras!!! 
Was on local news (east mids) today that the local scameraships are doing a PR exercise type thingy to explain that they are not just after money, apparently due to the number of static cash machines being vandalised.
Seems they're planning to do some sort of presentations, might be interesting to go along.....
Was on local news (east mids) today that the local scameraships are doing a PR exercise type thingy to explain that they are not just after money, apparently due to the number of static cash machines being vandalised.
Seems they're planning to do some sort of presentations, might be interesting to go along.....
This happens a lot. It would happen less if "safety" cameras weren't conveniently placed on sites where the maximum revenue generation potential has been calculated, you know, bottom of hills, immediately before a national speed limit sign, places like that.
££££££ Money Money Money Money Money Money ££££££
££££££ Money Money Money Money Money Money ££££££
tim.tonal said:
Not as bad as when all vehicles are travelling within the speed limit and someone panic-brakes on seeing a camera! 
I seem to witness an incident like this a least a couple of times a year!
What's wrong with putting the speed limit on the back of the camera?
You're lucky then, I see this happen every day. Good idea regarding putting the speed limit on the camera but I suspect a lot of the muppets around don't even know what speed they are doing and wouldn't be able to react quick enough to work it all out.
blademan said:
Hi guys n gals
Not posted for a while because things have been hectic recently.
Anyway, yesterday I was travelling down the A40 in the middle lane at an indicated 65mph in my car in the vicinity of a camera that has been there for years. I used to live in this area so know it well.
A guy in the outside lane travelling at approx 85mph in an old volvo, obviously hadnt seen the camera. He had gone past it and then presumably suddenly realised it was there and hit the anchors and lost control. Well he lost control, skidded and the car spun round and veered across my lane and came to rest facing the wrong way in the nearside lane. As soon as I saw him start to lose control I eased up and gently braked. Amazingly no cars were hit. This could have been distastrous. Comments anyone?
Unfortunately this just goes to show why speed limits have to be set to take account of the lowest common denominator (although even 70MPH might have been too fast for him).
OK his braking was for the camera, but it could have been for many other reasons and the newspapaers would have reported that you had been wiped out by a ‘speeding’ motorist.
>> Edited by deva link on Wednesday 8th June 15:54
[quote = Parrot]If he can't do an emergency stop at 85mph, he doesn't (or the car) deserve to be on the road tbfh.[/quote]
It's a *lot* harder to stop from 85 than most people imagine. Once you're on the brakes hard, it takes an age to slow down -- unless you have a practice at this, it's quite likely that you will underjudge the distance and lock-up.
I've had a go on a dry deserted section of tarmac.
It's a *lot* harder to stop from 85 than most people imagine. Once you're on the brakes hard, it takes an age to slow down -- unless you have a practice at this, it's quite likely that you will underjudge the distance and lock-up.
I've had a go on a dry deserted section of tarmac.
7db said:
[quote = Parrot]If he can't do an emergency stop at 85mph, he doesn't (or the car) deserve to be on the road tbfh.
It's a *lot* harder to stop from 85 than most people imagine. Once you're on the brakes hard, it takes an age to slow down -- unless you have a practice at this, it's quite likely that you will underjudge the distance and lock-up.
I've had a go on a dry deserted section of tarmac.
[/quote]
It might take longer to stop than you imaging, but it's not difficult at all - you simply stand on the middle pedal and keep the steering wheel straight - doesn't matter if you lock up or not.
m-five said:
It might take longer to stop than you imaging, but it's not difficult at all - you simply stand on the middle pedal and keep the steering wheel straight - doesn't matter if you lock up or not.
Old volvo. Poorly balanced brakes and crap tyres. Rear end lock up. Camber makes the car start to rotate. Numpty hasn't done an E-stop in years, and just welds the stoppers to the floor and holds on.
People are idiots a lot of the time.
There was a piece in the paper under the headline 'Madness!' a while back where they were saying about the ludicrous speeds of 100mph caught on the A47. As a small aside the mentioned one person slammed on the brakes at 82mph and crashed into the central reservation. It's normally an anti-scamera paper (the EDP) so why they didn't pick up on this I don't know.
7db said:
It's a *lot* harder to stop from 85 than most people imagine. Once you're on the brakes hard, it takes an age to slow down -- unless you have a practice at this, it's quite likely that you will underjudge the distance and lock-up.
I've had a go on a dry deserted section of tarmac.
No its not. Its absolutely no different than an emergency stop at 30mph.
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