Speed Cameras

...your preconceptions of the whole speed camera issue. The reason why I ask this is that many people (from reading the reviews on here) have completed entrenched views one way or the other, and comments like “all speed cameras should be banned” or “if you don’t speed, you won’t get caught” aren’t particularly constructive. What I want to do is try and look at this argument in balanced way and suggest some proposals which balance the needs of everyone. ...
...my piece. WHAT’S A SPEED CAMERA? Unless you’ve been living in a hermitically sealed bunker in the Scottish Highlands for the past 10 years, you’ll know what a speed camera is. The basic principal is that if you break the speed limit, they’ll note your number plate and you’ll get a fine (and some points) in post. Although they do pretty much the same job, they fall into 2 camps: mobile and fixed. Fixed cameras can be 3 different types, the good ...

robert_parnham 19.04.2004 (12.05.2004) · Read full review
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Review of Speed Cameras

...my very contraversial opinion on speed cameras and more generally speed and driving etiquette. I used to drive 1,000 miles a week. If you didn't know you'd have guessed by the time you'd finished reading this. I apologise if my opinion seems vehement, the last thing I want to do is upset anyone, but I also I want to express my views openly and honestly because this is an issue I feel strongly about. SPEED CAMERAS To a certain extent my views on ...
...speed in general so please bear with me if I seem to be going off track. The fact is, any of you who derive any enjoyment from driving will know there's a lot more to driving carefully and safely than speed, so often with a camera in place the people who are driving dangerously will continue to do so, the only difference being, they'll be doing it a little more slowly. One other reservation I have is that if they are reducing the number of traffic ...

Sweary 03.12.2003 · Read full review
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Review of Speed Cameras

...revealed. The original static speed cameras in the UK were all manufactured by a company called "Gatso" and were all rear-facing cameras. This meant that they captured the image of the speeding car as it drove AWAY. Although radar and road markings were used to record the speed of the vehicle and it`s registration number, the identity of the driver would remain an unknown factor. This is a major problem for the most widespread speed camera in the ...
...radar is not used. Your speed is calculated as it passes over a series of sensors embedded just below the surface of the road. Parallel wires react to the pressure of your wheels as they pass over them generating a tiny electric current. This principle is called piezo-electricity and you might already be using it in the kitchen with gas lighters, the sort that you squeeze to produce a spark. If it calculates that your speed is over the limit, the ...

bwanamdevu 02.09.2003 · Read full review
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Review of Speed Cameras

...who will merrily break the speed limit on almost a daily basis. Speed limits and traffic calming measures, although annoying, are there for a reason. It has nothing to do with how good a driver you are, the fact is that if you drive even 5mph over the limit in a 30mph zone then the braking distance is considerably more. Children, the elderly and other vulnerable people cannot legislate for the fact that you're late for work/are applying your make-up/changing ...
...people argue that if the speed limits weren't there then people would use their common sense when it came to driving at speed when, for example, children were on their way to or back from school. This is nonsense as I have been on traffic patrol specifically targeting areas near schools and the results are frightening. Often the worst offenders are the parents who are late dropping their kids off and then are late themselves for work. The other thing ...

clemenza 24.06.2002 · Read full review
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Review of Speed Cameras

...how the role of the speed camera on our roads is changing. When cameras were introduced people were upset, the press frequently commenting that this is the first step towards the sate becoming “Big Brother”. The government promised that the cameras would only be used in proven accident blackspots and this went some way to pacifying the public. There were also numerous television campaigns showing the hazards of speed (though at least ...
...to treble the number of speed cameras (from 4,300) and introduce stiffer penalties for road-traffic offences. The problem is that recent changes in the law mean that the police keep some of the revenue form speeding offences. Therefore, the people upholding the law benefit from its enforcement and combined with the fact that they are hoping to soon be issuing some ten million tickets a year it seems that it may soon be unusual to find someone with ...

kingsanj 20.06.2001 · Read full review
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Review of Speed Cameras

Speed cameras are one of the best inventions ever thought up, it is just a shame our councils and police can not put them to better use. The sole purpose of out friendly little Gatso should / was originally to deter speeding and therefore cut the number of accidents involving excess speed. I live at the bottom of a fairly large hill, which happens to be a major through road. Halfway up the hill is a primary school, because of the nature of the hill ...
...from national speed limit to 30mph I have personally witnessed 1000's of car coming down the hill at 40mph plus, why is there not a speed camera there I will never know. Leicester City council have recently announced they are doubling the number of speed cameras in the county, they also announced where they will be situated, I feel that is a brilliant idea as it will allow motorists to slow down but escape the harsh fines imposed, everyone’s ...

jmorley99 27.05.2002 · Read full review
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Review of Speed Cameras

...other night about speeding and speed cameras and I was getting so worked up about what was being said that I thought the best thing to do was to write an opinion and get it off my chest so to speak. I’m not sure what the programme in question was as I was channel hopping at the time and I only saw the last part of the programme. Basically what they were doing was discussing the amount of speed cameras already in this country, their effectiveness ...
...use the cash generated from speed cameras to buy more of them and this seems to be causing an outcry from the civil liberties brigade. The police have apparently said that they would like speed cameras to be more noticeable than they are at the moment so as not to antagonise the motorists further. I must admit my initial reaction was why not hide them and catch more speeders, but I do see the point of view of the police. It is after all, the reduction ...

SusanLesley 09.08.2001 · Read full review
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Review of Speed Cameras

...motor vehicle and raised the speed limit from four to 14mph. (Incidentally that same year, Mrs Brigit Driscoll was knocked down and killed by a car in South London, so becoming the first casualty of the age of the motor car). Our current speed limits are defined by the 1968 Road Traffic Act, and it can be argued that this makes them over 30 years out of date. 70mph is the speed limit on British motorways, and is regularly exceeded by the majority ...
...measures such as the much-hated speed humps (the local authorities’ responsibility), and of course the dreaded speed cameras. We’ve had them for years in London, but now plans are afoot to increase drastically the number of these cameras on roads all over Britain. ‘War has been declared on the motorist!’ howls the press and motoring organizations alike. Breaking the speed limit is regarded as a basic right; the idea of it ...

Cazz 01.09.2001 · Read full review
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Review of Speed Cameras

...of the road was a speed camera, well the lines weren’t on my side of the road so obviously I couldn’t get caught a little over the limit on the other side of the road. Wrong! Flash, looking around I realised there was no traffic at the other side of the road, it had got me. This was nearly a month ago now and I have still not had the letter trough the door demanding the fine, I am not sure how much it is nowadays, and the three points ...
...We all know what the speed limits are, it’s one of the first things the lovely driving instructor tells us. 30mph with street lamps, unless otherwise sign posted etc. Now although we all hate them the speed limits are there for a reason. It is for the protection of the pedestrians, you and other drivers. Pedestrians… Imagine a road, quiet and with only a few cars, the speed limit is 30mph but you are in a rush. You decided that to cut ...

ickle_devil 08.07.2001 · Read full review
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Review of Speed Cameras

...vociferous since the introduction of speed cameras. “Why aren’t they out catching criminals instead of fining drivers?”, or “It’s just a way of taxing motorists more”. I hear my ‘darling’ son in law muttering something along these lines quite frequently. (This is the man, I might add, who has been done for speeding twice!) ~~~~~ At just 35 mph you have twice as much chance of killing someone that you ...
...who undertook pilot schemes with speed cameras, that deaths and serious injuries were reduced by around 50%. In some areas it was up to 60%. Drivers speeding at camera sites fell from 55% to a mere 16%. In a nutshell, speed cameras save lives. ~~~~~ Recently, the government encouraged the police force to introduce thousands more cameras around the country. The revenue from catching speeding motorists however, according to recent new regulations, ...

kitty_litter 19.08.2001 · Read full review
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Review of Speed Cameras

...it! Cameras are everywhere, speed cameras are no exception! In the past I have seen the hidden cameras behind signs, posts and trees and the normal grey ones you can see with the lines on the road to mark distances and also mobile ones positioned by the police on stretches of the road which also take pictures which are triggered by speed, The best ones are on the nice Police cars which have the machine that measures your speed and then they stop ...
...car to show you the speed you were doing...now thats what I call fun... I do see the number of speed cameras increasing dramatically and the number of fines and revenue that is created will also be increasing, does this mean that the roads will be in a better condition or that our Police forces will be better armed to deal with true law breakers? I think not! I do agree with the cameras to a degree but if I was honest I do not see the point of them ...

Johnsie 13.05.2002 · Read full review
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Review of Speed Cameras

Speed Cameras The modern driver can do little to avoid the existence of speed cameras. All over the country, you will see little white signs with a stripy looking "camera" in them that identify you are about to approach an area where speed cameras may be in place. Speed cameras have changed the way in which we drive and are a subject of much debate within the motoring press - several web forums have sprung up dedicated to sufferers and camera spotters ...
...not wish to discuss whether speed limits are fair or relevant to today's road-users (I have discussed this in a separate opinion about Motorway Speed Limits) so I am working on the assumption that speed limits are what they are, end of subject. Here are some of the issues that I think are worth considering: 1. Are speed cameras fair? The presence of speed cameras has to be clearly identified by law. You will therefore see a speed camera road-sign ...

LostWitness 12.01.2001 · Read full review
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Review of Speed Cameras

...opinion on the subject of speed cameras. Let me also state that I am 100% in favour of speed cameras in areas which need protecting like schools and pedestrian crossings for instance. The use of speed cameras in these areas as well as accident blackspots undoubtedly cuts down driver speeds and in turn cuts down the amount of injuries, deaths and accidents. No one in their right mind can argue against this issue and Police and driving groups are ...
...The most common types of speed cameras are; FIXED SITE CAMERAS The fixed site Truvelo system takes a photograph of the front of a vehicle. Sensors located under the road surface detect the speed which then activates the camera and flash unit if the vehicle is exceeding the legal speed limit. Some of the housings can be turned around to face different times of the day. AVERAGE SPEED CAMERAS Digital safety cameras, which measure vehicle speeds ...

WormThatTurned 02.10.2002 · Read full review
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Review of Speed Cameras

Speed cameras! We've all cursed them when we've been flashed before we realised that they were there. Unfortunately, four years ago, I had a personal reminder about why they are there and I curse no more. One of my best friends children, a boy of sixteen years old at the time, was walking home from his work experience at a local factory. It was about 5pm on an October night, so already dark, as he walked along a country lane. As he approached a ...
...for ruining a young life for the sake of getting somewhere ten minutes quicker so don't curse the speed camera anymore, it's there to prevent something like this happening. Incidently, there was never so much as an apology or a kiss my ass from the guy who did this. ...

buzzz 08.07.2001 (18.07.2001) · Read full review
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Review of Speed Cameras

...to provide films for it’s speed cameras, this has encouraged me to write a report on speed cameras, and subsequently I have recovered from Ciao writer’s block! This opinion focuses on the background, present, and future of speed cameras. Background --------------- But why do we have speed cameras? The original intention for installing the small devices was to originally reduce motoring accidents on the roads of Britain. However, as ...
...original ‘zero tolerance’ rule for speed cameras was then abolished, and instead, unofficially, the cameras were adapted to allow motorists to speed up to 10-15% over the limit, thereby reducing the numbers of motorists being caught. Another answer was to cut back on cameras in the most remote locations, thereby replacing the films in cameras in the most prominent, convenient and lucrative locations possible. As a result, statistics ...

nadams 11.08.2001 · Read full review
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Review of Speed Cameras