Speed camera traps

Interesting and oh so well caught.

The one thing that puzzles me is that I surmise the vans location is determined by a manager I.e. not the driver so has the manager who sanctioned the location also been reprimanded? Granted the driver was an a**e for not correctly using his own judgement and reporting back that said location was inappropriate.

On a related note ~ there was the news report last week that I think Bedfordshire police said that they were going to turn on the motorway cameras full-time with the intention of raising revenue. All previous such police/government statements have insisted that use of speed cameras was about safety not revenue raising........at least in the case mentioned we know the truth ;)
 
It is all about revenue. I do however fully support their motives in cutting speed in residential areas, but not to cause an obstruction to padestrians and other road users.

The whole camera thing on the M1 is all about revenue, but people will just drive at 70. They've turned average speed cameras on the A9 right the way up. No-one speeds. No money is made.
 
ST4 said:
It is all about revenue. I do however fully support their motives in cutting speed in residential areas, but not to cause an obstruction to padestrians and other road users.

The whole camera thing on the M1 is all about revenue, but people will just drive at 70. They've turned average speed cameras on the A9 right the way up. No-one speeds. No money is made.
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neil_g said:
or maybe thats the point.
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As mentioned it was that explicit way that it was stated as a revenue raiser.......and when challenged about the "people will just slow down and you not not make money...." that the lack of such increased revenue appeared not to have occurred to him!

But human nature being what it is they will get some money.
 
“A member of the police workforce is not exempt from following road and parking rules, which is why the individual has been treated as any member of the public would be.”
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That's an interesting concept ... the jury's out!
 
ST4 said:
It is all about revenue. I do however fully support their motives in cutting speed in residential areas, but not to cause an obstruction to padestrians and other road users.

The whole camera thing on the M1 is all about revenue, but people will just drive at 70. They've turned average speed cameras on the A9 right the way up. No-one speeds. No money is made.
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. . . And the A9 is a lot safer.
 
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neil_g said:
or maybe thats the point.
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Not really, cameras do not take into account road conditions. The speed limits were set 40+ years ago when most cars where pretty pants in terms of safety and braking. Plus people drive more now so should be more accomplished. There are many times when 70 is too fast, but also times when 90 is fine. Coming back from Gatwick at 1am Sat was a pain on the M25 as there was nothing around and going 80+ would not have been unsafe.
 
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No schools on that road, a few shops.. No reason other than money generation for that van to even be there. Gloucester are good at sticking cameras where they make the most money even if there is no safety need for one.
 
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Box Brownie said:
On a related note ~ there was the news report last week that I think Bedfordshire police said that they were going to turn on the motorway cameras full-time with the intention of raising revenue. All previous such police/government statements have insisted that use of speed cameras was about safety not revenue raising........at least in the case mentioned we know the truth ;)
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https://www.talkphotography.co.uk/threads/finally-they-admit-it-speed-cameras-cash-cow.607140/
:D
 
TCR4x4 said:
Gloucester are good at sticking cameras where they make the most money even if there is no safety need for one.
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Same here ( In Milton Keynes)
Best local one I came across, a couple of years ago, granted 30mph speed limit, about 700 hundred yards from a mini roundabout, and a straight piece of road,
so there is the opportunity / temptation, if you are that way inclined, to go a little faster than the posted limit.

Late autumn / early winter low sun directly in your eyes, Copper dressed all in black uniform. Not a hint of fluorescent, or a police car anywhere ( hidden out of sight)
And "hiding" behind someone's large privet hedge, it was only as I drew almost level, that I saw him leaning around the bush.

(And no, I wasn't speeding)
 
On the A3 heading north as you approach the two lane section towards Claygate/Hinckley Wood "area" there is a fixed 50 camera but they sometimes have a mobile approx half mile along under a bridge......just at the point where those tempted would have picked up speed!

Oh, not to forget HADACs cameras. I wonder how many have been captured by the ones that straddle the Clacket Lane services?
 
Box Brownie said:
Oh, not to forget HADACs cameras. I wonder how many have been captured by the ones that straddle the Clacket Lane services?
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And the ones between J23 & J27 M25, I saw one flash the other week, no speed limit reduction in force, and the guy actually didn't seem to be going that fast.
(Opposite carriage way)
 
Cobra said:
Same here ( In Milton Keynes)
Best local one I came across, a couple of years ago, granted 30mph speed limit, about 700 hundred yards from a mini roundabout, and a straight piece of road,
so there is the opportunity / temptation, if you are that way inclined, to go a little faster than the posted limit.

Late autumn / early winter low sun directly in your eyes, Copper dressed all in black uniform. Not a hint of fluorescent, or a police car anywhere ( hidden out of sight)
And "hiding" behind someone's large privet hedge, it was only as I drew almost level, that I saw him leaning around the bush.

(And no, I wasn't speeding)
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I was coming down "plump hill" just outside Mitcheldean in the Forest of Dean a while back . It's a reasonably steep winding hill that terminates in a long flat straight and a mini roundabout. It's a 30 zone as there is a school off down a side road and lots of kids cross from the houses on the left to get there. However this was 11 in the afternoon. Anyway, I get down the hill and onto the flat straight and can see someone stood inside the brick built bus stop at the end but leaning out of it which looked weird.
As I got closer I saw it was a copper in full black with a speed gun just poking past the wall of the bus stop. No attempt to be visible and just down right sneaky.

And no I wasn't speeding either!
 
Cobra said:
And the ones between J23 & J27 M25, I saw one flash the other week, no speed limit reduction in force, and the guy actually didn't seem to be going that fast.
(Opposite carriage way)
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Ah! AFAIK the HADACs do not flash, they are based on the average speed technology and mounted about truck high on a gantry but on a bracket at the side pillar i.e. not on the crossover part of the gantry. Looks like two grey boxes approx. 1 metre apart and I think I read that each one has a camera in it? The principal seems to be like the Bedfordshire statement they are set to monitor and capture those that exceed the National Limit (though not stated for ages are all cameras set to trigger @ > +10% to account for the inaccuracy of speedometers???) I set my cruise control in any zone that is especially sensitive.
 
Cobra said:
Same here ( In Milton Keynes)
Best local one I came across, a couple of years ago, granted 30mph speed limit, about 700 hundred yards from a mini roundabout, and a straight piece of road,
so there is the opportunity / temptation, if you are that way inclined, to go a little faster than the posted limit.

Late autumn / early winter low sun directly in your eyes, Copper dressed all in black uniform. Not a hint of fluorescent, or a police car anywhere ( hidden out of sight)
And "hiding" behind someone's large privet hedge, it was only as I drew almost level, that I saw him leaning around the bush.

(And no, I wasn't speeding)
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TCR4x4 said:
I was coming down "plump hill" just outside Mitcheldean in the Forest of Dean a while back . It's a reasonably steep winding hill that terminates in a long flat straight and a mini roundabout. It's a 30 zone as there is a school off down a side road and lots of kids cross from the houses on the left to get there. However this was 11 in the afternoon. Anyway, I get down the hill and onto the flat straight and can see someone stood inside the brick built bus stop at the end but leaning out of it which looked weird.
As I got closer I saw it was a copper in full black with a speed gun just poking past the wall of the bus stop. No attempt to be visible and just down right sneaky.

And no I wasn't speeding either!
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A goodly while ago I was pulled over in South Wales, this was on approach to one of the towns near Bridgend. It was a sweeping curve road and there was a National Limit sign on the bend however within approx. 200yards of that point it straightened and you could see the village ahead but as the bend opened there was a 30 limit sign, in other words from NL to 30 was very short distance and the 30 sign was only visible when within about 100yards of "it". The copper that pulled me over was in a chatty mood so I asked about the poor signage positions and he agreed the 30 one was placed too near the bend and too far from the village boundary! He gave me an official warning though did remark that anyone going faster than I was (approx. 40 at the that point) was getting tickets.

In the instance above the road engineers needed to rethink the placements but the police were tied to what there was but showed discretion.......................as I said this was a few years ago, no idea whether that place has been altered as not been through there since.
 
TCR4x4 said:
No schools on that road, a few shops.. No reason other than money generation for that van to even be there. Gloucester are good at sticking cameras where they make the most money even if there is no safety need for one.
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Really? It is a residential road with drive ways and some of the front gardens have hedges that could conceal someone running out. It reminds me of the videos we were shown when I did my speed awareness course - lots of potential for nasty things to happen.

If there were concerns about the speed on the road it seems a reasonable place to put a camera. However, whoever parked that van wants slamming; as others have suggested, if Joe Public did it they would get fined.

Dave
 
Tringa said:
Really? It is a residential road with drive ways and some of the front gardens have hedges that could conceal someone running out. It reminds me of the videos we were shown when I did my speed awareness course - lots of potential for nasty things to happen.

If there were concerns about the speed on the road it seems a reasonable place to put a camera. However, whoever parked that van wants slamming; as others have suggested, if Joe Public did it they would get fined.

Dave
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There is that potential, but having driven down there almost every day for the last 15 years, it's never happened to me and I've never noticed it being particularly prone to speeding vehicles or seen or heard of many accidents.. There is a NSL dual carriageway that goes from and too more or less to the same place that is a hell of a lot quicker than going that way. There are many places nearby where accidents have happened, yet you never see a camera there.. Primarily because speed wasn't the major factor of the accidents, hence no revenue generation potential.
 
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TCR4x4 said:
No attempt to be visible and just down right sneaky.
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:rolleyes:
That, like my example is not a deterrent but a blantant attempt to catch people, not make them slow down.
Box Brownie said:
Ah! AFAIK the HADACs do not flash, .
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This one did HADACS 3 and that looks like a flash gun to me to the right of image?
http://www.speedcamerasuk.com/hadecs-3.htm
Box Brownie said:
they are based on the average speed technology
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I think your'll find that they are "one shot wonders" not average speed.
That's SPECS
http://www.speedcamerasuk.com/specs.htm
 
Box Brownie said:
A goodly while ago I was pulled over in South Wales, this was on approach to one of the towns near Bridgend. It was a sweeping curve road and there was a National Limit sign on the bend however within approx. 200yards of that point it straightened and you could see the village ahead but as the bend opened there was a 30 limit sign, in other words from NL to 30 was very short distance and the 30 sign was only visible when within about 100yards of "it". The copper that pulled me over was in a chatty mood so I asked about the poor signage positions and he agreed the 30 one was placed too near the bend and too far from the village boundary! He gave me an official warning though did remark that anyone going faster than I was (approx. 40 at the that point) was getting tickets.

In the instance above the road engineers needed to rethink the placements but the police were tied to what there was but showed discretion.......................as I said this was a few years ago, no idea whether that place has been altered as not been through there since.
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There is a Highways Agency (?) document detailing what size and position signs should be in varying speed limits. It may be beneficial to know this if you are ever caught speeding, can't for the life of me remember the exact name, it was know as chapter 4, or section 4 (or maybe another number....!)
 
Wiltshire council summed it up perfectly. They turned off and removed most of the cameras as they weren't raising enough revenue and costing them money to maintain.. To me that means the cameras were working and slowing people down, which is the supposed reason they were fitted.. The council obviously forgot about that.
 
Cobra said:
:rolleyes:
That, like my example is not a deterrent but a blantant attempt to catch people, not make them slow down.

This one did HADACS 3 and that looks like a flash gun to me to the right of image?
http://www.speedcamerasuk.com/hadecs-3.htm

I think your'll find that they are "one shot wonders" not average speed.
That's SPECS
http://www.speedcamerasuk.com/specs.htm
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Thanks for the link. That may have been the one I read.....of note it refers to a dual radar system for measuring the speed not flash based and there are no road markings that the flash based ones seem to work (two pictures, rapid succession, number of road bars between pictures equal speed).

Though average is not mentioned (I did think it was) the output from both cameras separated by i think about 4 miles has the potential to be used that way.
 
TCR4x4 said:
The council obviously forgot about that.
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:D
I never forget the one on the A420, heading towards Swindon, from the A34, ( going back a few years, not been that way in years) it used to get burnt out A tyre was placed around it and set alight,
last time I went by, someone had removed its head and it was just sitting there looking all forlorn, I wish I'd got a picture now :D
 
Cobra said:
:D
I never forget the one on the A420, heading towards Swindon, from the A34, ( going back a few years, not been that way in years) it used to get burnt out A tyre was placed around it and set alight,
last time I went by, someone had removed its head and it was just sitting there looking all forlorn, I wish I'd got a picture now :D
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I know it well! That poor guy always got a beating. Every time they replaced it, a week later it was dead again.. Probably the main reason they scrapped them all!
 
Box Brownie said:
of note it refers to a dual radar system for measuring the speed not flash based
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Thats as I understood it too, but this one definitely flashed, I was quite close and it was facing me, so God knows. TBH
 
".....but also times when 90 is fine."

I am a trained police advanced and pursuit driver (or was). No, it isn't.
 
RIR said:
".....but also times when 90 is fine."
I am a trained police advanced and pursuit driver (or was). No, it isn't.
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We had another police officer on here that insisted that only police officers were trained to handle driving incidence (at any speed.)
Having said that, cars are safer designed to go faster ( well not generally as quick as THAT Cobra ;) ) stop faster with better brakes, & all this new fangled ABS & assorted aids,
Than they were back in 1965 when the trial limit was introduced.
I'm not saying that 90 is a good speed to be driving at under any circumstances, but ( circa ) 80mph seems to be favoured by 50 % of drivers, certainly from what I see,
on my early morning trips.

But I'll certainly agree that driving standards have slipped over the last several years too, not only cars but also HGV's
There is good and bad in all driving classes.
 
Cobra said:
We had another police officer on here that insisted that only police officers were trained to handle driving incidence (at any speed.)
Having said that, cars are safer designed to go faster ( well not generally as quick as THAT Cobra ;) ) stop faster with better brakes, & all this new fangled ABS & assorted aids,
Than they were back in 1965 when the trial limit was introduced.
I'm not saying that 90 is a good speed to be driving at under any circumstances, but ( circa ) 80mph seems to be favoured by 50 % of drivers, certainly from what I see,
on my early morning trips.

But I'll certainly agree that driving standards have slipped over the last several years too, not only cars but also HGV's
There is good and bad in all driving classes.
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80 on the clock is likely to be closer to 70 actual speed.

IIRC, the Cobra held the record for 0-100-0 until the '80s.
 
Bobsyeruncle said:
Why not?
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Its one of those iffy speeds, 80 is better than 90 and so 100.
Its a bit like the 50mph road work limits, thats another iffy speed,
and likely to send you to sleep :D
 
B1ts said:
Yeah they do or at least they have an active flash whether that is necessary or just to show they work............
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Funny enough, same stretch of M25 today, about the same time and there was definitely a flash.

However this time the speed was reduced, so I couldn't be sure if it was the over head gantry or the Hades :D
 
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