Speed camera rant!!!!

[JustOne]

I don't mean to be funny but you say you can't slow from 70mph to 50mph in 100 yards, well that is why the sign is lit up, you should be slowing before you reach that sign. If your eyes are that bad that you can't see that sign within 100-200 yards then you may want to get them checked.

I agree... but it's the 'cry wolf' aspect that I'm finding hard to fathom..... 2am on an empty road and you have to slow for a 'queue'.... we all know that there is no queue, there's not enough traffic on the road to even form a queue! Rather like the example of there being fog when there is no fog, who should be the judge at 2am when they can see clearly?

YES, it makes sense being 'warned' that there might be something ahead and I'm now made aware to pay extra attention and be PREPARED for something, probably drop some speed, but definitely awareness heightened..... not to go 50ft past the sign and get flashed!

 

[Wildrover]

I drive all over Europe and our roads have to be the worst for being set up deliberately to catch you out, although France runs us close. These variable speed limits really work well when it's busy as they do keep things moving, but please turn them off at night for God's sake!!

Before I moved recently I travelled to work down a twisting single carriageway A road which was national speed limit (60 not 50 as many think) then the last part was on a straight dual carriageway with a 50 limit on it and average speed cameras. The cameras were put there to reduce motorbike speeds in the summer (we're on the way to the east coast and Cadwell Park) according to the Police, but they monitor you from the front and bikes don't have a front plate, you couldn't make it up. So now every Summer we have to dawdle along at 50 whilst bikes whizz past us doing a ton plus, and this is supposed to be safer?

 

[chrisd]

Go on the speeding bit on www.pepipoo.com and do some research James, you never know what help you might find. If there's a way out of it they will know!

Any problems with finding out on pepipoo you can pm me

 

[MadAdey]

Just take it on the chin like a man James. I did a speed awareness course back in December for getting popped by a mobile camera, not very impressed but I was speeding. Problem is you have no argument as even if the speed restriction was not in place you were still speeding.

One thing to remember mate before you get on a crusade is the court has the power to inflict the maximum penalty of disqualification and £2500 fine with it being a motorway offence. So appeal it if you think you have a case, but it is very unlikely you will get away with it and the fixed penalty of 3 points and £60 will go over the £100 and you will have more than 3 points.

Do not get me wrong I am not a road safety campaigner. I sit myself at 85MPH on the motorways and agree 100% that our motorway speed limits can be a bit crazy at times. But I speed and have to accept if I get caught I pay the penalty for it.

 

[G1BB0]

I took the points, 90 quid for the course but couldnt get time off for the dates they supplied plus it was 35 miles away in Bedford = give me the 3 points.

I have driven back from Cumbria in the night many a time and there is always restrictions for workmen, lanes closed etc. I have never been zapped on the motorway and been known to be doing a ton plus on the majority of trips.

Unlucky is the apt word here. take the hit and move on, no point getting worked up about it as life is too short

 

[Mungoscorner]

So you were breaking the speed limit,but you feel hard done by because you got flashed by a speed camera ?

Sorry but i can't hear the violins from here. :rofl:

 

[JustOne]

^
^
^
It's not just that Adey, it's the fact that I'm actually put in danger by the signs. 3am on an empty road and I'm feeling like someone is going to run me off the road even though there's only 5 cars there or a lorry right behind me or people going past at 80 when I'm doing 40. I honestly felt like I could have been involved in 3 crashes on a flipping empty road!

No one... and I mean no one does 30mph down an empty slip coming off the motorway at 70mph at 3am when there's no cars on the road and it's a mile long. In the day time or when when there's traffic building it's a totally different issue. Likewise you don't do 40mph for fog for a 10 mile stretch when there's no fog.... or do you? These gantrys must be operated to say when there IS a 'queue ahead' so how come they don't go off when there ISN'T one?????????

If we knew that EVERY sign was a definite and that you'd get popped it would be a different matter altogether as people would expect you to follow the limit of the sign and would expect you to be slowing down. I'd rather they made the limit on the motorway 50mph (as I said, I'm not a boy racer) and had every camera 100% active for 51mph. Then we could just all be safe chugging along.

 

[CliveW]

Ah, the good old days!

I remember once about 1990 driving from London to Glasgow overnight in my boss's Jag and setting the cruise control to 95.

I remember the days when there wasn't a maximum speed limit at all. :clap:

 

[G1BB0]

I reckon you were clocked on camera earlier and the controller was anti S&T and using the old ball flight laws and thought 'Ahhh its Justone, I am gonna have him....'

 

[joe nustedt]

In Cornwall we have around 40 speed camera sites and only 3 cameras shared around them.

I remember in North Devon there was 1 which got moved around (few years ago mind), obviously the SW is the place to avoid them

 

[SocketRocket]

You may be OK James, they do use an amount of consideration based on traffic conditions.

How about this for the latest Motorway Camera (Click image)

View attachment 4496

 

[MadAdey]

^
^
^
It's not just that Adey, it's the fact that I'm actually put in danger by the signs. 3am on an empty road and I'm feeling like someone is going to run me off the road even though there's only 5 cars there or a lorry right behind me or people going past at 80 when I'm doing 40. I honestly felt like I could have been involved in 3 crashes on a flipping empty road!

No one... and I mean no one does 30mph down an empty slip coming off the motorway at 70mph at 3am when there's no cars on the road and it's a mile long. In the day time or when when there's traffic building it's a totally different issue. Likewise you don't do 40mph for fog for a 10 mile stretch when there's no fog.... or do you? These gantrys must be operated to say when there IS a 'queue ahead' so how come they don't go off when there ISN'T one?????????

If we knew that EVERY sign was a definite and that you'd get popped it would be a different matter altogether as people would expect you to follow the limit of the sign and would expect you to be slowing down. I'd rather they made the limit on the motorway 50mph (as I said, I'm not a boy racer) and had every camera 100% active for 51mph. Then we could just all be safe chugging along.

I agree 100% mate. All I was saying is you will have to bend over and take one for the team and not to try and get on a crusade. You will only end up worse off if you go into court to argue it. I was in a similar type of thing when I got done and just took hte speed awareness course.

On my way home from work coming up to a village it drops from 60 to 50 so I did that and slowed down fomr about 80, then one of those wonderful white van men started to sit on my bumper as I refused to speed. You then go into the 30 zone, I was slowing down but looking more at the dickhead in my rear view mirror that was on my rear bumper. A lorry went past me and revealed the camera van, I looked down and was doing about 35 (officially clocked at 34MPH) I knew straight away I had been done. The man in the van behind probably got away with it as he was that clsoe to me even though it was his fault I had not slowed down to 30. I know I am naughty making this statement but I do break 60 MPH limits and motorway limits, but never speed in a built up area.

 

[G1BB0]

but never speed in a built up area.

same as Adey, if on a busy road I drive at the speed of the traffic. Only when on dc or mway and its clear will I give it some beans.

 

[SocketRocket]

I was caught on a mobile speed gun a few years ago. The crafty Rozers were behind a hedge just where the speed limit changes from 30 to 60, it is on a stretch that is out of town and a country road. As you approach the 60 sign its fairly natural to start gradually increasing speed, especially as there are no houses around and the road is wide and open. They then jump out from behind the hedge 5 yards before the sign and zap me doing 36 mph. What a load of wasters, I was given 3 points, no offer of a speed awareness course,. This after over 40 years without a fine. :angry:

 

[Andy]

You were speeding.

Dry yer eyes.

 

[SocketRocket]

You were speeding.

Dry yer eyes.

Yes, sure I was.

 

[AuburnWarrior]

I believe it was Jeremy Clarkson who said that the speed cameras on motorways are only active once the speed restriction signs are on. So, if revenues are down that week/month, the speed restriction signs come on to catch people like you out! Also, there's no point in dropping the speed limit down during the day as most motorways (around here anyway) rarely get above 50mph. But, gone midnight and the night driver is easy prey.
I'd get rid of speed cameras on motorways and put them where they really matter - outside schools and at accident black spots. I've never seen a camera where they should be - only on vast expanses of road where accidents never occur.

They really are a stealth tax!

 

[USER1999]

I got pinged by a plain clothes motor cycle cop on the A40 coming out of London. The road goes from 60, to 50, to 40 quite quickly. I slowed to 50, and was coasting down to 40, sat in the middle lane. I get a knock on the window, and told to pull over (he had a tiny blue light, with police on it). I pull in, and he gives me a ticket for doing 42 in a 40. Nice. Apparently, the cars in the right hand lane were going too fast to bother catching.

On the other hand, I got off with a stiff talking to the week before for doing 80 plus in a thirty.

I was 22, and stupid, but some times you have to take the rough with the smooth.

Justone, you could have been pinged for 85 in a seventy, would that make you any happier?

 

[Farneyman]

Speed kills...I have no sympathy for those caught speeding however for people who have lost loved ones as a result of speeding you all have my sympathy. If you get caught speeding get it right up you.

 

[AuburnWarrior]

Speed kills....

Incorrect. Speed doesn't kill otherwise every time there was an F1 race no-one would ever finish.

Speed without concentration or at the wrong time kills. Fact.