A Naughy Bit Of Safety Camera Work

[renault12ts]

A few years back a couple of brave souls thinking they were smarter than the law removed their number plates and sped past a recently installed speed camera. The police zoomed in on the pics and found the car's registration number etched on the rear screen. You can guess what then ensued....

Sounds more myth than reality.

 

[Bellow]

Sounds more myth than reality.

Nope - absolutely true. The local press published the photograph from the speed camera showing the plate-less car and a passenger standing up waving from the sunroof hatch. A Ford Orion IIRC, and the cameras were new at the time and the police anxious that they be taken seriously.
You can be certain that 17 photographs will be under intense scrutiny for any evidence that identifies the car. And there is an incriminating number plate to be disposed of. I doubt that we've heard the last of this case.

 

[TheFoX]

Some years back, Hampshire police set up a trap and caught about 500 motorists all doing 40mph in a 30mph zone. Mind you, they had to refund all those drivers when one driver protested that the speed limit for the road was, indeed, 40mph. Silly police had set the wrong parameter when setting up the trap.

I also heard that, due to failure to follow calibration rules, Dorset Constabulary had to refund thousands of motorists all caught by one particular camera on a stretch of the A303, a few years back.

 

[cazyp]

Underhand? As underhand as speeding in a 30mph zone? At least what the police are doing is legal. For as long as motorists will speed in 30mph zones (putting others - never themselves - at risk) then the police will continue to police. Maybe though, if they raise some revenue, there'll be some money to buy some books for the new £200m library that currently has none.

One main wide two lane road where I live has been reduced from 50mph to 30mph. Not because of RTI's. Not because of schools or hidden junctions. But because there are a disproportionate number of counselors living in houses set way back along side. There are speed vans here several times a week.

Conversly there is a 30mph road leading past a school, with a school crossing which then turns into a 40mph beside the school. There has been two fatal RTI's in the past 24 months. I live just off this road and have never seen a speed trap in 15 years..

It's not all about 'policing,' saving lives and necessary speed limits.

 

[Halcyon Days]

I also heard that, due to failure to follow calibration rules, Dorset Constabulary had to refund thousands of motorists all caught by one particular camera on a stretch of the A303, a few years back.

Not to be picky, but the A303 doesn't pass through Dorset. That's quite some calibration error to be in the wrong county

 

[Bellow]

One main wide two lane road where I live has been reduced from 50mph to 30mph. Not because of RTI's. Not because of schools or hidden junctions. But because there are a disproportionate number of counselors living in houses set way back along side. There are speed vans here several times a week.
.

That type of 'enforcement' merely undermines genuine efforts - both in resource allocation and in the driving public's minds as to the relevance of 30mph limits. Local government at its worst.

 

[markjay]

If cameras are supposed to stop drivers from speeding.... then surely the most effective ones are those that raise no revenue at all?

 

[cathalferris]

I've always been of the opinion that if the camera main purpose is to be believed to be "safety" then there should be absolutely no problem with:
a) putting the cameras specifically at a point that justifies the location, e.g. a specific crossroads, at the apex of a known-dangerous bend, directly outside a school etc.
b) Signing that there's an upcoming camera, with that sign showing the limit in place at that camera location.
c) Ensuring that the camera itself and its location is very visible to oncoming traffic with reflective and fluorescent painting, without being hidden by foliage etc.
d) Ensuring that there's a database, freely usable, of every camera location and the limit in operation at the camera.

If they were like this then nobody should trip a camera picture. unless they are being idiots in which case they deserve it. Plus, the advertised speed limit would be a lot more obeyed at the known-dangerous area.

Anything that differs form this is an exercise in enforcement+revenue and not incident prevention.