Police are to use a new Speed Gun

bagmans911 · Occasional Visitor Joined: Mar 26, 2004 Posts: 31

The problem with the rather naive 'don't speed and you wont get nicked' brigade is that they are either being flippant or stupid. If you drive along the A38 from J22 on the M5 to Bristol it is almost impossible to know what speed limit you should be driving to. It changes dozens of times on open straight stretches leaving it to guesswork as to what the speed limit is. These speed limit changes work only to gain further revenues for absolutely no safety reasons. If it was all about safety (which we know it is not) why do they not display the speed limit on the back of the GATSOs? Or on the back of the unmarked vans?
I too have a Bell Euro 550 and it works a treat against hidden RADAR traps! Time for Laser jamers to become legal?
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Robin2 · Posted: Thu May 27, 2004 12:34 pm Post subject:

I agree with the last comment. Often one passes a speed sign which is obscured at the crucial moment by a lorry or something. You then drive at a slow speed to be on the safe side, to the annoyance of all the locals who know it's 50 mph or whatever. If cameras are going to be used in this way, we should campaign for regular repeater signs on lamp posts, so that we actually know what speed we are supposed to be sticking to.
Robin

samriley · Occasional Visitor Joined: Nov 05, 2003 Posts: 23

another point to make with putting speed cameras up all over the place is that you either drive way under the speed limit and annoy everyone, and chances are cause accients from driving too slowly. or you have to keep checking to speed, again paying more attention to your speedometer than on the road ahead and potential hazards. i agree that speed cameras actually make driving more dangerous.
the number of accidents caused by speeding has not decreased since they started placing speed cameras everywhere, ok so it hasnt increased as much either, but is that because of the speed cameras, or because technology in cars are improving, brakes getting better for example. if you look at the stopping times in highway code and then actually compare that to modern cars they are way off. as shown on top gear a couple of weeks ago, a car doing 60mph stopped in under the distance it states for 30mph in the highway code.

timtim · Posted: Thu May 27, 2004 6:05 pm Post subject:

timtim · Posted: Thu May 27, 2004 6:32 pm Post subject: Poor excuses

samriley · Occasional Visitor Joined: Nov 05, 2003 Posts: 23

are you telling me if your driving at 30mph you never creep 2mph over that 30 limit?

timtim · Posted: Thu May 27, 2004 7:02 pm Post subject:

No. (but that wasn't my point)
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Privateer · Posted: Thu May 27, 2004 9:53 pm Post subject:

Hi Timtim,

bagmans911 · Occasional Visitor Joined: Mar 26, 2004 Posts: 31

TimTim,
To answer your question - both!
You are missing the point completely, the law is not the problem! It is the way it is enforced, 99.9% of people are not perfect, change the speed limit (poorly displayed) hide a speed camera and hey presto - money. Nothing at all to do with safety or the law. After all it is not just me but the police who believe the speed cameras are not being used correctly. Nobody would argue against cameras outside schools/dangerous junctions, but on open dual carriageway that has a 50mph temporary speed limit with no work being conducted and no lane closures? Speed limits are commonly poorly displayed and there are numerous ways to improve this, but that will not make money!!
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Fuego · Posted: Fri May 28, 2004 1:38 pm Post subject:

Indeed. Motorway speed limits should be raised to 100 mph, and drop to maybe 75 mph in the rain. Yes, in this country that probably means the lower limit would apply for a good deal of the time, but at least when conditions are good it would be possible to cruise at a decent speed.

Modern vehicles are much more capable of stopping and retaining road-holding than vehicles back in 1965 when the limit was first imposed.

Equally, dual carriageways should be revised upwards to 75 (60 rain), say.

As for other roads, I favour 20 around schools, etc. and heavy residential areas, but many of the 30 and 40 limits should actually go up (30,s to 40s, 40s to 50s), whereas as some should go down.

The "national" speed limit should probably go up from 60 to 70 (but stay at 60 in the rain).

Finally, couple all the above with a review of the habit of gradually dropping speed limits, year after year (on roads that have no business being that restricted), whilst adding speed cameras to raise revenue (the A40 into London comes to mind), and then I'd say, bring on the speed control measures.

As a footnote, I'd also add that there is no speed limit that is low enough for stupidity, lack of attention, or lack of ability. The latter applying to incapable drivers aged around 70 and upwards (bring on re-tests), the former is more universal, but often applies to younger, inexperienced drivers, whilst the middle option is entirely universal.

ShallTX · Posted: Fri May 28, 2004 7:13 pm Post subject:

People should just learn to slow down...and enjoy their beer at a more leisurely pace.

Darren · Posted: Fri May 28, 2004 8:56 pm Post subject:

Spoken like a true Texan ;) So what gun d'ya have Question

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kilozulu1 · Occasional Visitor Joined: May 28, 2004 Posts: 2

I know this seems to be going off topic a bit, but does anyone know why this occurs:

I was driving at 2am on the A12 towards London when two marked Police cars with blue lights flashing screamed past me, well over the 50mph limit in force and then they both braked down to the limit to go through two different sets of GATSO's? They were attending an accident further on up the road so there was a need for breaking the limit.

Is it because of the paperwork involved as I know that they are exempt from this sort of thing in the RTA when answering an 'emergency'.

timtim · Posted: Sat May 29, 2004 6:04 am Post subject:

bagmans911

The fact that you have a Bell Euro 550 would suggest to someone more suspicious than I that you speed habitually, and aren't one of those "unlucky" ones who get caught on the odd temporary camera. I couldn't possibly comment.

If the law's not the problem, why moan when you get caught breaking it? I'm not saying that speed cameras are god's gift to motorists, just that if that's the way local authorities choose to enforce the law, then we all have to live with it, and moaning won't do much good. I know that riots were partially responsible for the dropping of the poll tax, but I can't see historians in fifty years time talking nostagically about how the Camera Whiners gained a long fought victory over the little yellow box.

If police forces diverted resources into more traffic officers who could apply the law with discretion, there would be more of the good old "shouldn't you be out catching murderers" complaints.

However those sneaky monkeys try to hide their cameras, there are still the lines on the road to give them away, even on temporary cameras. Is it so frustrating to slow down to 50 for a couple of hundred yards, even if there's a clear road. Your engine will thank you for the rest.

Just a thought - if we all obeyed the speed limit, there would be no revenue from the cameras and they might stop putting them up.
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Darren · Posted: Sat May 29, 2004 9:33 am Post subject:

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