Cameras, The Pesky Average Ones

[aswearing]

writing my last post i triggered off a memory which i ment to ask about.

average speed check cameras, do they actually work or have about 15 people been fined alot of money?

i was doing 50 and i can only assume the golf driver was near on 70. aswell as many more drivers, now either my speedo is incorrectly calibrated (which it isnt), the cameras are only for show, or the drivers found out they only have a few weeks left to live and couldnt give a monkeys about speeding tickets.

discuss?

[HDi fun]

I'm not sure that there are enough of the SPECS average speed cameras around yet for a court precedent to have been set.

It only wants one driver to challenge it in court and ask them to provide a photograph of the offence actually being committed.

As far as I'm aware the SPECS units don't take footage that is admissible in evidence. A computer calculation of speed is not concrete enough to secure a conviction.

The downside is that you might end up having to lie in court (ie. say you weren't a a particular place at a particluar time when you were) which could leave you in contempt of court. This could lead to a further charge of perjury.

You could, of course, argue that the summons and actions preceding it amount to coersion in an attempt to get you to admit to something under duress.

I think it's a shame that so much attention is paid to simple mph and NONE is paid to simple safe driving.

What usually happens is that the local authority drops the case if you start arguing the toss because once it's out of their hands all funds go to central government anyway.

SO, of course, it's not all about revenue. Is IT????

[aswearing]

very agreeable, depends how lucky you are. would you agree that if you are aside a hgv, thus hiding your number plate due to the angle of the camera etc (i checked once) then your plate will not have been recorded thus a calculation will not be accounted for as you whizz past at 70mph?

also your front number plate isn't lit and at night when your lights are on its almost impossible to view the plate (would you agree so far?) only the rear plate is visible, whichcannot be seen as the SPECS are positioned to be facing you.

hmm...

[HDi fun]

The silliest is that we have a bypass on the A421 here. Three years ago someone was killed on that road, at 70mph due to a stray bull.

The speed limit is 70mph. OK, perhaps drive a better car with better brakes, but..................

more recently, there was a case of a couple of motorcyclists racing each other (and neither came to harm) but got caught but a mobile camera at over 140mph each. For clarity, no one else was hurt either.

So now, what do we get,

A mobile camera van, set up to catch people head on going over 70mph.

1. In the opposite direction,

and

2.... Bikes don't have front number plates anyway.

What a ****in. joke.

It's tempting to plough into the van and claim that you wre distracted by its prescence and it encumbered upon your view of the road.

[xfirebladex]

I've seen some average speed cameras on the A2 that have one camera pointing forward and then another camera pointing in the other direction. I too am unsure as to the worthiness of these cameras, as I've seen many a person exceeding the "average" speed. I'd be interested to see what sort of equipment and software they're using to capture thousands of license plates and faces in split seconds and computing all of the speeds as they come out of the other end. Must be some high-order algorithms to think that quickly.

[aswearing]

speaking of the vans, one received a whole load of abuse about a road which had roadworks at the time, and the speed limit was reduced o 30 from 40. its not obvious as at previous traffic lights the speed changes to 30 from 40, and after the lights back to 40. (get that bit? )

but they took down the sign that said 40 and kept it as 30, alot of people didnt know this and were caught ''speeding'' by a mobile van, which was parked illegaly.

food for thought.

[HDi fun]

And that is bloody stupid application of the law. The local authorities have adopted a very sinister and cynical approach to mobile speed traps. The road traffic act was never modified to allow mobile GATSO's or Lidar 20/20's in order to coerce people into breaking the speed limit so that revenue may be collected.

Personally I'd photograph the illegally parked van and send the photo, together with a well written letter or Email registering your disgust at the way your council tax and other revenues are being spent.

Removing a 40mph sign and then brutally applying the prevailing 30 limit is tantamount to coercsion and/or entrapment.

And as for parking the enforcement vehicle illegally. O isn't that such bloody fantastic PR for the Police force as a whole?

Don't get me wrong, I'm happy to see enforcement in hazardous areas but you can't enforce a speed limit by hiding the enforcement vehicle. Make it big and visible; erect decent signage telling you exactly what the speed limit is (regardless of the old street lamp spacing crap) and no-one will break the limit. If they still do so, then they bloody well deserve a ticket for being so bloody inobservant.

What they can do, however, by enforcing the subversively, is collect revenue. Funny, that.

It's intersting to note that the single biggest body that has repeatedly railed against needless enforcement of speed limits alone (ie. no attention paid to other, potentially far more dangerous activities) is the House Of Lords.

So many bit of British constitutional law are compromised by the current Road Traffic Act as it's amendments thereto.

For example: Try and think of any other non-motoring offence of which one may be accused and then subsequently asked to give evidence against oneself? The only one that comes to mind is the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991 where similar powers are bestowed upon The Police and other 'official' bodies.

It's an interesting situation, and one that needs urgent redress as it seems that the honest and legal driver is being punished and fined to provide revenues for other government purposes.

Any thoughts?

Regards,

Paul Anderson.

[aswearing]

that was the sound of a whip being cracked upon enforcement figures

the mobile van was visible as you had to move into oncoming traffic to pass it sometimes.

and some mobile speed cameras arent maked, just a simple ford carrier or similar which i always believed was entrapment.

bend the rules anymore and i believe they will break.