has anyone else ever been "blinded" by scameras?
Discussion
on my way home from work this evening I was driving in lane 2 of a dual carriageway, as I approached a scamera facing me but on the other carriageway (opposite direction) the blooming thing flashed at two cars speeding in the opposite direction
the point is it caused temporary blindness for a good 5 seconds as it flashed directly into my eyes!
lucky not to have had an accident though!
very, very dangerous, has anyone else had the same problem?
btw I thought they all had to be painted a bright colour now?, this one is still drab gray
the point is it caused temporary blindness for a good 5 seconds as it flashed directly into my eyes!
lucky not to have had an accident though!
very, very dangerous, has anyone else had the same problem?
btw I thought they all had to be painted a bright colour now?, this one is still drab gray
JMGS4 said:
This is the reason that all scameras in switzerland and germany flash only an "infra-red" flash. Some people got blinded and "crashed into" the scameras!!!Oh dear what a pity........
Trouble is if you did that here in "great" britain you would have to pay for the new camera, and then pay the saftey camera partnership for stress and time off work for losing one of their loved ones for a short while.
gh0st said:
This is the reason that all scameras in switzerland and germany flash only an "infra-red" flash. Some people got blinded and "crashed into" the scameras!!!Oh dear what a pity........
Trouble is if you did that here in "great" britain you would have to pay for the new camera, and then pay the saftey camera partnership for stress and time off work for losing one of their loved ones for a short while.
They tried that here, however the driver was quicker and had already brought charges against the trafpol/city/county for "initiating an accident". He won, got very high damages (car paid for, pain money for stress etc), and lo and behold all cameras started using red flashes!!!!!
safetyfirst said:
btw I thought they all had to be painted a bright colour now?, this one is still drab gray
Not quite sure what the situation is on that at the moment as I haven't found anything else relating to THIS particular story (link goes to BBC page with whole story http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/2866455.stm :
Speed camera policy challenge
Speed cameras were painted yellow last year
The government's policy of painting roadside speed cameras yellow is to be challenged in the High Court on Thursday.
Road safety groups are to ask the courts to order ministers to use the less conspicuous grey cameras instead.
They claim brightly painted cameras are less effective and only encourage drivers to slow down temporarily before speeding up again.
Ministers introduced yellow cameras last year. It followed concerns that grey cameras actually increased the risks of accidents because drivers tended to brake suddenly after seeing them.
The change in policy also aimed to deflect criticism that the cameras were more about raising money through speeding fines than about road safety.
Speed limit
However, campaigners believe a return to grey cameras will improve road safety.
They say less conspicuous cameras mean drivers do not know where they are and are, they argue, more likely to stay within the speed limit.
centurion07 said:
Speed limit
However, campaigners believe a return to grey cameras will improve road safety.
They say less conspicuous cameras mean drivers do not know where they are and are, they argue, more likely to stay within the speed limit.
Just goes to show they know absolutely fack all about drivers and driving
Nerds!
safetyfirst said:
on my way home from work this evening I was driving in lane 2 of a dual carriageway, as I approached a scamera facing me but on the other carriageway (opposite direction) the blooming thing flashed at two cars speeding in the opposite direction
the point is it caused temporary blindness for a good 5 seconds as it flashed directly into my eyes!
lucky not to have had an accident though!
very, very dangerous, has anyone else had the same problem?
btw I thought they all had to be painted a bright colour now?, this one is still drab gray
Yep, I've had this as well, sometimes it's not being blinded but just the surprise at seeing a flash somewhere around you.....has caught me out a few times.
BBC said:
They claim brightly painted cameras are less effective and only encourage drivers to slow down temporarily before speeding up again.
Exactly! This is why speed cameras are a bad idea from the outset. They actually think having the cameras disguised is an effective way of slowing people down? All this will do make people less aware of what's going on around them as they scan the roadside looking for GATSOs (I found myself doing this sometimes and since they were painted yellow they are much easier to spot). The pattern of thinking of these idiots is actually quite scary.
centurion07 said:
They say less conspicuous cameras mean drivers do not know where they are and are, they argue, more likely to stay within the speed limit.
How about this for a safety idea? All building site workers not allowed to wear hard hats. This will make them concentrate more on what they're doing, thus reducing the accident rate on building sites. Hard hats are just an excuse to be reckless. Same logic.
Out of interest, do any reliable before and after stats exist for roads where a grey camera has gone high vis?
Oh, and grey cameras are very conspicuous when they're on fire....
My understanding was that certain county councils (Scamera Partnerships, whatever) agreed to paint the buggers yellow (Hampshire, Sussex and Surrey all did I think)
Certain county councils didnt.
I thought the whole point of them was to slow drivers down at accident black spots, reducing RTAs? Therefore making them as visible as possible would presumably aid this. Obviously the 'Safety Camera' partnerships have different ideas though, involving lots of money.
Certain county councils didnt.
I thought the whole point of them was to slow drivers down at accident black spots, reducing RTAs? Therefore making them as visible as possible would presumably aid this. Obviously the 'Safety Camera' partnerships have different ideas though, involving lots of money.
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