M4 J14-J18......Speed Crackdown

Page may contain affiliate links. Please see terms for details.

Mr E

MB Enthusiast
Joined
Jul 22, 2004
Messages
1,608
Location
Sussex
Car
57 W211 E280 AG
From Sky News -

Crackdown On Motorway Speeding
Drivers who go above 70mph on one of the country's busiest motorways are facing a police crackdown using speed cameras.Ususally motorists can go above the official speed limit on the motorway network unless it is significantly above the limit.But the soft approach to enforcing the law has come to an end on the M4 where between juntion 14 and 18 drivers exceeding the speed limit will face a £60 fine and three penalty points on their licence for speeding by as little as nine mph.

Normal police patrols tend to only book people who drive at 85mph.

Cameras in marked vans will enforce the new policy in Wiltshire near Bath.

The Wiltshire and Swindon Safety Camera Partnership, which includes the police and county council, is behind the new measures.

Signs willl tell people they are entering a speed trap area.

A spokeswoman for the partnership said: "People aren't supposed to slow down just because they have seen a camers.

"They are supposed to slow down because it is the law."

Despite the increased speed on motorways they are actually safer than other roads.

There were nine crashes per 100 million vehicle kilometres travelled in 2003, compared to 76 on urban A roads.

--------------------------------

So nothing to do with safety then, just more money in the bank...... :mad:
 
There is a trend towards following the ACPO Guidelines on speeding enforcement, i.e

Limit, Fixed Penalty & Summons thresholds

20 mph 25 mph 35 mph
30 mph 35 mph 50 mph
40 mph 46 mph 66 mph
50 mph 57 mph 76 mph
60 mph 68 mph 86 mph
70 mph 79 mph 96 mph

10% over limit plus 2mph is the main thing to remember

With cameras bound to grow on large sections of the Motorway network as the guidelines for camera siting are relaxed, looks to me like I will have to drop the warning setting on the Road Angel to 79. :crazy:

Friend on mine got a Fixed Penalty Notice for doing 36 mph in a 30 limit near his home. Found this astonishing as although there is a camera just down the road from his turning, simply could not get to 36 mph in the distance. Asked for the photographic evidence and worked out that a mobile unit had been lurking about 150 yards past the camera! Sneaky.
 
Satch said:
Friend on mine got a Fixed Penalty Notice for doing 36 mph in a 30 limit near his home. Found this astonishing as although there is a camera just down the road from his turning, simply could not get to 36 mph in the distance. Asked for the photographic evidence and worked out that a mobile unit had been lurking about 150 yards past the camera! Sneaky.

isnt that illegal for a mobile unit to be so close to a fixed location ? I thought the mobile unit had a so many miles radius of a fixed location
 
fuzzer said:
isnt that illegal for a mobile unit to be so close to a fixed location ? I thought the mobile unit had a so many miles radius of a fixed location

There are a lot of urban myths about where they can and can't be, but basically they can put them wherever they want. Common trick round here is to have a rear facing mobile mini gatso behind a bridge 50yds from a Truvelo to get those speeding up after the forward facing camera

Caught a certain safe and considerate driver not a million miles away :eek:
 
F*ck em :mad: Hope they put vans all over the M4 :D I will be using the A4 as my drag strip of choice instead :rock: :rock: :rock: afterall we know where the camras will be :D Put your crash helmets on people of marlborough Red commet coming through :D
It looks like they have put sensor pads in the road as well... So 4 months of delays for what??? road improvments my **** :mad:
 
If everyone drove over the limit on the motorway there wouldn't be as problem as they couldn't nick everyone. If they concentrated on the middle lane hoggers and the people holding their mobiles. They would stop most of the problems aswe wouldn't have to speed toget passed the jams they have caused.
 
ckember said:
If everyone drove over the limit on the motorway there wouldn't be as problem as they couldn't nick everyone. If they concentrated on the middle lane hoggers and the people holding their mobiles. They would stop most of the problems aswe wouldn't have to speed toget passed the jams they have caused.

Most people _DO_ break the speed limit on the M4 and Its mostly safe to do so... So far I have clocked up 90,000 miles over the last few years all driven at safe speeds at safe distances from the other cars... Nearly all the major RTAs that I have seen or heard of of late involved trucks through the central reservation :( how are they tackling that ??????

IN the face of this shameless revenue raising, It's time to lose the front number plate for good I think :(
 
Text of Press release with important bits underlined

"The partnership started enforcement at seven sites along the 53kms of the M4 motorway in Wiltshire.

Stationed on motorway bridges the enforcement vehicles will target those motorists who significantly exceed the national speed limit on motorways and endanger not only their lives but those of other road users.

Over the past three years 12% of all Wiltshire’s fatalities occurred on the short Wiltshire stretch of the M4 motorway. Figures for the year 2004 show a 24% increase in the number of casualties when compared with those in 1999 on the Wiltshire section of the M4 motorway"

So there may be a problem with that stretch of road but letting Camera Partnerships loose on motorways is a dream come true for them in terms of revenue.

I presume the "significantly exceed" bit is the ACPO 79 mph guide. So 78 it is.
 
Satch said:
Text of Press release with important bits underlined

"The partnership started enforcement at seven sites along the 53kms of the M4 motorway in Wiltshire.

Stationed on motorway bridges the enforcement vehicles will target those motorists who significantly exceed the national speed limit on motorways and endanger not only their lives but those of other road users.

Over the past three years 12% of all Wiltshire’s fatalities occurred on the short Wiltshire stretch of the M4 motorway. Figures for the year 2004 show a 24% increase in the number of casualties when compared with those in 1999 on the Wiltshire section of the M4 motorway"

So there may be a problem with that stretch of road but letting Camera Partnerships loose on motorways is a dream come true for them in terms of revenue.

I presume the "significantly exceed" bit is the ACPO 79 mph guide. So 78 it is.

No! The BBC had this item on the breakfast news. Its _ALL_ drivers that exceed the 70 limit :(
 
peterchurch said:
No! The BBC had this item on the breakfast news. Its _ALL_ drivers that exceed the 70 limit :(

That may well be the story, but not sure if they could enforce that and the text is off their Press Release.

The UK Construction and Use Regulations permit speedometer deviations of +/- 10% and nobody can be expected to read off a car dial that accurately because of parallax errors, hence the extra 2 mph in the ACPO guidlines.

So is the Wiltshire Camera Partnership saying it is not going to stick to the ACPO guidelines?
 
Satch said:
That may well be the story, but not sure if they could enforce that and the text is off their Press Release.

The UK Construction and Use Regulations permit speedometer deviations of +/- 10% and nobody can be expected to read off a car dial that accurately because of parallax errors, hence the extra 2 mph in the ACPO guidlines.

So is the Wiltshire Camera Partnership saying it is not going to stick to the ACPO guidelines?

That was the message. But its hard to tell. If you have a hard disk that will store hours of footage, and thousands of drivers passing under the bridge each hour, it will be hard for them to resist picking up everyone @ 75 or over even if they agree to drop the ones that protest they could still gain a big chunk of cash ...

Would the rise in serious incidents have anything to do with the massive increase in road use in that stretch ??

If they want to really improve safety they should introduce paced markers and book the idiots that tale gate...
 
Then be afraid, because when they refer to "criminals" they actually mean anybody who speeds as well as the more worrying big brother overtones. It is all meant to be self funding and this bloody network will be used for Road pricing as well.

Launch of Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) Strategy for the Police Service – 2005/2008

The second national ACPO ANPR Conference at Dunchurch Park, Rugby on Wednesday 23 March 2005 will see the launch of a revised and updated ANPR Strategy for the Police Service, covering the years 2005-2008.

The Strategy, which has wide spread support in the police service, from the Police Standards Unit (PSU) in the Home Office and the Association of Police Authorities (APA), builds on the successes of Projects Laser 1 and 2. These Projects were run in conjunction with the Home Office and independently evaluated by PA Consulting and showed ANPR to produce an increase in arrests and Offences Brought To Justice many times the average levels when police forces made use of ANPR. The Strategy also builds on the announcement of £15m of government funding to support ANPR developments in 2005/06 under SR2004.

The Strategy sets out how the police service will exploit and develop ANPR over the next 3 years to meet its strategic aim of “denying criminals use of the roads”. The Strategy also supports a wider national ANPR Strategy being developed with other partners such as the Department for Transport, Highways Agency and DVLA.

Key points from the Strategy include:
 Development of a national infrastructure of ANPR enabled cameras and readers to cover strategic sites
 Developing a National ANPR Data Centre to analyse intelligence from ANPR readers from across the country
 All police forces in England and Wales having at least one dedicated ANPR intercept team by October 2005, with more to follow
Using hypothecated income from Fixed Penalty Notices resulting from ANPR activity to fund further ANPR development
 Using ANPR data within force intelligence and investigative strategies

Richard Brunstrom, Chief Constable of North Wales and head of the ACPO Roads Policing Business Area comments:

“ANPR is proven technology to fight crime. We are now achieving a critical mass in taking ANPR forward with support from across the service and partner agencies. It can and will make the roads safer”.

Frank Whiteley, Chief Constable of Hertfordshire and Chair of the ACPO ANPR Steering Group comments:

“The launch of the ANPR Strategy for the Police Service is a key step in grasping the opportunities ANPR provides for denying criminals use of the roads. The police service is now integrating ANPR into its day to day activities as a mainstream policing tool. By October 2005 virtually all forces will have dedicated ANPR intercept teams to further this aim”.

http://www.acpo.police.uk/asp/policies/Data/modern_road_policing.pdf
 
Last edited:
time to get this Labour gov't out of office I think
 
I've used that stretch of the M4 regularly over the last few years as I used to commute between Newbury and Bath and I have family and friends in Wales.

During rush hour I'd be suprised if anyone gets the chance to speed, I can remember averaging 55mph regularly. Also, there only seems to be one police traffic car that works there - a silver Lexus GS300 if anyone's interested. Surely the money spent on these "safety" cameras and mobile units would be better directed at a few more patrol cars (maybe not Lexus') and qualified coppers who could police these roads properly. Speed simply isn't an issue on motorways but poor lane discipline, tailgating, lack of signalling are!?!
 
andyw said:
time to get this Labour gov't out of office I think
Nothing to do with any one political party. This is the work of unelected, faceless Civil Servants, that are trying to build empires :mad: Its time that the people cut funding for central government, a 50% reduction should stop them wasting money on things like this :(
 
peterchurch said:
a 50% reduction should stop them wasting money on things like this :(

Not if these initiatives are mostly self funding. Which is of course why the Government can claim they are not revenue generating: gets ploughed back to keep these unelected, unaccountable bodies running. Lots of "stakeholders" all of whom are really keen on seeing it work.

The intruder state game plan:

the Police and government exit from the boring and expensive bits of managing the road network. Hand it over to others, just like the Tube and Railways

Set up a nationwide system of number plate recognition.

Use that to raise more revenue from Fixed Penalty Notices to run the system at zero cost to the Treasury.

Enable Road Pricing, getting money for the Treasury

Track evildoers (and the public in general)

No wonder many believe this is all part of the Labour anti car/stealth tax agenda being dressed up as a road safety issue.

See the text of the doc in the link above. Note that Oberstgruppenführer Brunstrom is Head of the "Road Policing Business Area"

What would happen if the whole population suddenly obeyed all speed limits and the Revenues dried up? Would this vast system continue to be funded at public expense? No, of course not: it requires non compliance with the law to work!
 
peterchurch said:
IN the face of this shameless revenue raising, It's time to lose the front number plate for good I think :(


Whats the penalty for a missing plate?
 
Thmsshaun said:
Whats the penalty for a missing plate?

When I lost my plate on my Honda, a nice chap from the City of London police told me that,

He could pull me and tell me to sort it out :D and if they are feeling nasty they can issue a demand that you fix it with a £25 fine for not doing so in 7 days... so you fix it produce the note and some little scroat rips the new one off...

They could bitch at you and threaten you but there is no way they can actually do anything about it...

An argument like sorry Office I reverse into my drive at home and drive into my car space at the office and I dont go round the front of my car :( so I have no idea when I lost would be enoughto work :D
 
Thmsshaun said:

See this policy is turning law abiding citizens to the dark side :D
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Back
Top Bottom