Community speed cameras

Georgew

Georgew

Georgew

Associate
Joined
15 Dec 2003
Posts
285
Location
Melton Mowbray
Today at about 7.20AM i was traveling to work whick is moastly country roads and villages.

any after exiting a village (no more residential building etc) there is a corner and the the 30 limit turns to 60. so what do i find hiding around the corner?

a Community speed camera with two pensioners with hi vis jackets on pointing a speed camera at me! :mad:

i look at the clock and im doing about 37mph as im acelerating out of the corner :o

surly these two poor old guys have something better to be doing at this time of the morning than hiding around a corner in 30 limit thats just ending with no danger around, trying to catch people out? :rolleyes:
 
You just get a nasty letter i think calling you a child killer :p


Oh and the old biddys probably have nothing better to do :)
 
I think you might be in trouble - those guys are the usual mobile camera guys round here - the dibble don't do the mobile camera work in Somerset. They tag along if theres any danger that the camera team are going to be in any trouble but most times the police are not involved...
 
I think this is well dodgy, fair enough if it was in the middle of a 30mph zone but right at the end of one turning into a 60mph zone. That is usually an unscrupulous habit of some traffic police. I was driving down a steep hill last year, you had to really be on the brakes to do 30mph or below. On the slope I came to a couple of bends. Now if you were at the bottom of the bends you could just about see up the middle of the road through the bends to where they start. I come down anyway and what do I see at the bottom? A big fat copper leant over his range rover with a speed camera and a big cheesy grin on his face. From where the bends started you couldn't really tell he was sat there and obviously he was aware of this. They were quiet country roads. I wasn't speeding so I just grinned at him. The point is, I don't mind speed camera's and stuff but when they go about it like this then I think it's way out of order. He knew people had to really be on the brakes to keep within the 30mph limit and that a lot of people would just trickle over the limit unintentionally. Also these speed camera's that at first a sign tells you to slow down if your speeding then just past it there will be a speed camera to flash you if you didn't take the sign's warning. I have noticed quite a few of these now that are in the wrong order so if your speeding you get flashed resulting in a ticket, points, etc first then you come up to the sign warning you to slow down. Are they taking the ****, is this even legal. 2 of them I have noticed are well hidden behind tree's, branches so you don't notice them until the last minute if at all. This is surely just for revenue. How can they keep getting away with **** like this.
 
Baron_Samedi said:
I think you might be in trouble - those guys are the usual mobile camera guys round here - the dibble don't do the mobile camera work in Somerset. They tag along if theres any danger that the camera team are going to be in any trouble but most times the police are not involved...
Click to expand...

but again in somerset you can only get done by the safety camera partnership which use mobile cameras in selected sites, or the police.

You can get email update from them on their future locations here
 
i got caught by one once, coming into my village, goes off a shortish turning thats a 60, into a 30, around a bend and then they were waiting. Imo, tho i havnt been driving long, it is safe to do a bit more than 30 through there. I got caught doing 36.

This was back in july i think, then in late september i got a letter saying " bla bla community people caught u doing 36 in a 30, we will be taking no further action"

In other words the community people, well aroind here dont mean anything.
 
Georgew said:
surly these two poor old guys have something better to be doing at this time of the morning than hiding around a corner in 30 limit thats just ending with no danger around, trying to catch people out? :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

That's just the point, they don't have anything better to be doing. These people are NIMBY's of the highest order, the majority of people that get caught speeding in rural villages are people that actually live there.
 
Vicious said:
i got caught by one once, coming into my village, goes off a shortish turning thats a 60, into a 30, around a bend and then they were waiting. Imo, tho i havnt been driving long, it is safe to do a bit more than 30 through there. I got caught doing 36.
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Safe does not equal legal - please try to understand the distinction. It is ILLEGAL to travel at more than 30 mph at any point within an area delineated by 30mph signs, no matter how safe it might look. That includes what most people seem to consider the "braking region" after the first sign (no, you must be doing 30mph or less when you pass the sign) and the "acceleration region" as you approach the NSL sign (ditto). You may think it's safe, but it is ILLEGAL. A concept that many here seem to struggle with. If you get done, then it is your fault for breaking the law.


M
 
Well there we go then, its illegal, so nothing else matters.

You know it used to be illegal in this country to have sex before marriage - the law can sometimes be very wrong and unjust, dont you know?
 
Mon said:
but again in somerset you can only get done by the safety camera partnership which use mobile cameras in selected sites, or the police.

You can get email update from them on their future locations here
Click to expand...

Cheers Mon,

I use that site often these days - its very useful for finding out where the cameras will be on given days!
 
The funny thing is that they probably can't even hold the camera steady. Old person + cold morning... I bet it was shaking all over the place.

Just think in a single shake of the hand it could go from pointing at your windscreen to pointing at your front bumper which I doubt does much for the accuracy of the thing.
 
[TW]Fox said:
Well there we go then, its illegal, so nothing else matters.

You know it used to be illegal in this country to have sex before marriage - the law can sometimes be very wrong and unjust, dont you know?
Click to expand...


You missed my point: if the OP (or anyone else) wants to break the law, be my guest. But if they get caught they should stop crying like a baby. If you don't like the law, write your MP. Because as it is they receive virtually no letters arguing for limits to be raised. But most of all I am fed up with people whinging "it was perfectly safe to drive at (say) 45mph in that 30 limit so why am I being prosecuted??" Well, have a guess?


M
 
Meridian said:
You missed my point: if the OP (or anyone else) wants to break the law, be my guest. But if they get caught they should stop crying like a baby. If you don't like the law, write your MP. Because as it is they receive virtually no letters arguing for limits to be raised. But most of all I am fed up with people whinging "it was perfectly safe to drive at (say) 45mph in that 30 limit so why am I being prosecuted??" Well, have a guess?


M
Click to expand...
Well said.

Its ok to think that a road is perfectly safe to do 20 over the limit, quite often it is but if you then choose to travel 20 over the limit and get caught then tough. You made your bed, now lie in it.
 
Lets say I done 85 past one of these guys pretending to be police?

Would they just have to grin and bear it and hand me their usual letter.

I love those letters, they basically read:

---
Hi criminal,

We are the community justice league and we actively monitor our roads for motorists going above the superflourous speed limit. (Because we have nothing better to do.)

You were caught travelling at a safe speed of 36mph in a 30mph community safety zone. We do not tolerate speeding in this area. However, we'll let you off and not take furher action. (We can't anyway) In future adhere to this warning or else we'll be forced to take further action. (Another letter like this)

Thank you,

Mr Bill Stroldge
Community worker / Assistant to the police / Unofficial Redbroke avenue safety agent.
---
 
I reckon you should think again if you believe these guys have no powers, there was a businessman in Wiltshire who was caught by one of these civilian speed camera operators, and this guy protested that he should not have the 3 points and a £60 fine because the camera was operated by a civilian not a police officer.

He took the case to court and the court found that he must pay the fine and take the points because in law there is nothing to say who has to be operating the camera, it does not have to be a serving police officer. In the end it cost this bloke 5 points on his licence and £1,146 fine, plus court costs etc.

The bloke is now taking the case to the High Courts, and says he will take it all the way to the House of Lords if necessary.


Full story here
 
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