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Car Forum / UK Car Forums / General Car Topics (UK group) / July 2005Speed camera vigilantes - shouldn't really encourage 'em, but...
Rounding the corner on the A647 today, something was missing. Soon realised that it was the speed camera. (This is/was an interestingly sited scamera, immediately before a speed limit increase from 60 to 70 where cars are accelerating out of a bend and up a long, straight hill.). When I got to the site of the camera I could see it lying prostrate by the side of the road and it became apparent that it had been felled by, I'd like to think, some sort of Robin Hood of the motoring world :o) Passed another yellow menace a bit further along, on the scamera-riddled A65, which was looking a little charred. Still, it's an ill wind... > Rounding the corner on the A647 today, something was missing. Soon realised > that it was the speed camera. (This is/was an interestingly sited scamera, [quoted text clipped - 7 lines] > Passed another yellow menace a bit further along, on the scamera-riddled > A65, which was looking a little charred. Still, it's an ill wind... It always makes me happy when someone kills one of those cash stealing machines. Regards Mike. Interesting point though, illustrated on Top Gear this week. Basically, advocates of cameras cr@p on about how they make the roads safer, but as JC pointed out, in Essex (?) the number of cameras increased by 19% last year, the number of accidents increased by 30%. Or similar. He had a couple of other cases to illustrate the point, including County Durham (0 cameras) where the number of accidents fell last year. And from what we know of cameras - they encourage everyone to slam on the brakes as the come into view, thus *increasing* the risk of accidents. Gets me fuming that nobody in the DoT (or the local police forces) has admitted this flaw and rethought their strategy. Nick > Interesting point though, illustrated on Top Gear this week. Basically, > advocates of cameras cr@p on about how they make the roads safer, but > as JC pointed out, in Essex (?) the number of cameras increased by 19% > last year, the number of accidents increased by 30%. Or similar. He had > a couple of other cases to illustrate the point, including County > Durham (0 cameras) where the number of accidents fell last year. The other point is that true accident rates (i.e. per mile driven) have been falling steadily until about the sixties. Many claims that speed cameras are bringing accident rates down ignore the fact that they're coming down anyway and that in some cases this downward trend has slowed since cameras were introduced. >Interesting point though, illustrated on Top Gear this week. Basically, >advocates of cameras cr@p on about how they make the roads safer, but [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] >the brakes as the come into view, thus *increasing* the risk of >accidents. People seem to still do that with the sight of a cop car on motorways etc.. I tend to drive with cruise control on the motorways to help me regulate my speed. The other day I was doing 70mph (on the clock, so slightly less in reality), with people in other lanes to the side of me. All of a sudden there's a copper on a motorway bridge and loads of people brake. I don't because I know I'm not speeding, but people who also probably weren't speeding still react by braking as they check their speed. They may well have gone down to 60mph before speeding up again. People are understandably paranoid about it. andyt >> Interesting point though, illustrated on Top Gear this week. >> Basically, advocates of cameras cr@p on about how they make the [quoted text clipped - 17 lines] > their speed. They may well have gone down to 60mph before speeding up > again. People are understandably paranoid about it. I had the same problem yesterday too. I was doing 85. I kept going. It's when you stand out from the crowd by doing more than +15mph over the average, or by weaving between lanes that you get in trouble. That's how I've always driven and never had a problem. Until scameras. Common sense went out the window... [...] > All of a sudden there's a copper on a motorway bridge and loads of > people brake. In normal driving, as opposed to regularity runs, the numerical value of your speed is entirely irrelevant... ...but for one thing; the brainless enforcement of arbitrary speed limits. Speed limits are dangerous. Speed Limits Kill. A > Speed limits are dangerous. > > Speed Limits Kill. I feel a campaign coming on here: Speed cameras: injecting radiation into you as you drive. Brunstrom: he wants your family DEAD! (allegedly). Drive faster in good road conditions. Think of the child - er - ren. What are those embedded in the road sensors which vans get attached to? They have posts with holes to insert glue into > What are those embedded in the road sensors which vans get attached to? > > They have posts with holes to insert glue into Do you mean Truvelo? A grey post by the side of the road about 2ft high with a grwy box on top of the post. Van parks by the side of the road and plugs into the box.  Signature"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." -- Benjamin Franklin, 1759 >>Do you mean Truvelo? A grey post by the side of the road about 2ft high >>with a grwy box on top of the post. Van parks by the side of the road >>and plugs into the box. Possibly - a grey post with a lock on it which you put superglue in! >> What are those embedded in the road sensors which vans get attached >> to? [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > high with a grwy box on top of the post. Van parks by the side of the > road and plugs into the box. Surely something that fried the electronics in the van is what's needed... :) A >>Surely something that fried the electronics in the van is what's >>needed... :) As you casually brush past? Getting the glue in is hard enough! >>>Surely something that fried the electronics in the van is what's >>>needed... :) > > As you casually brush past? > > Getting the glue in is hard enough! Some sort of electro-magnetic pulse device? ;-) >>>> Surely something that fried the electronics in the van is what's >>>> needed... :) [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > > Some sort of electro-magnetic pulse device? ;-) A tazer... You can only do the van in when it's connected. Of course there's a nice inductive loop in the road, and you drive over it... <spark> > Surely something that fried the electronics in the van is what's > needed... :) It's more tempting to have something that fries the contents of the van. "Why did you become a scamera operator?" "Well the applications had closed for my first and second career choices." "What were they?" "Concentration camp guard and official torturer." Signature"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." -- Benjamin Franklin, 1759 > Rounding the corner on the A647 today, something was missing. Soon > realised that it was the speed camera. (This is/was an interestingly [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] > felled by, I'd like to think, some sort of Robin Hood of the motoring > world :o) A speed camera on the A30 near where I live was vandalized on a regular basis in the past. The last act of vandalism involved the sticking of some type of gummed paper over the lens totally obscuring it. It stayed like this for weeks, then the entire camera assembly was dismantled and removed! SignaturePeter <X-Files Fan> Please Note: Emailed replies cc'd / bcc'd , containing HTML or attachments auto-binned as spam > When I got to the site of the camera I could see it lying prostrate by the > side of the road and it became apparent that it had been felled by, I'd like > to think, some sort of Robin Hood of the motoring world :o) Robin Hood - Takes from the rich, and gives to the poor! So we're gonna find this camera in some poor persons front garden... lovely ;-) |
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