In message ,
"IMM" wrote:


"Martin Angove" wrote in message
...
In message ,
"RichardS" noaccess@invalid wrote:



I could show you a specific position on an open road with clear vision
where
the lives of two motorcyclists were lost needlessly, due to the first
one
breaking to avoid being caught by a speed camera. (A316, Twickenham
westbound, just past the rugby stadium, dual carriageway. Daylight.)



It's not the speed camera which caused this accident, it is the idiots
who were ignoring the speed limit and so desperate to avoid a fine that
they hadn't taken account of other road users.

I'm doing a lot of motorway driving at the moment - M1, A42, M42, M5,
M50... you can guess the rest - and this is one of the things which
causes a *lot* of problems IME. There I am, quite happily tootling along
at as near 70mph as my speedo and prevailing conditions will allow,
occasionally moving to the middle or third lane to overtake something
slower, and all the while people are rushing past at 80 or 90mph, often
impatiently sitting so close to my boot that I can't see their
headlights, when all of a sudden the whole motorway grinds to a halt.

What is it? An accident? A closed lane? A speed restriction?

No; there's a jam sandwich or a battenburg cake sitting in the left lane
doing 60 or 65mph and no-one dares pass it. The resulting "slinky
effect" can cause stop-start traffic for miles.

When they introduced timed speed restrictions on parts of the M25 it
wasn't because of safety concerns, it was simply that it proved possible
to increase traffic flow by forcing everyone to travel at a slower, but
*steady* speed.

Oh crumbs, *very* OT. Sorry, but people who complain about speed cameras
are one of my pet hates at the moment. I'll try to restrain myself in
future :-)

They have them in sneaky places where there are no accident backspots. Then
the public do not cooperate with them on other crime matters. A top traffic
consultant in Northamptonshire dismissed speed as the major cause of
accidents. I think it was poor junction design, poor signs (the UKs are
appalling with ting little signs with lots of little writing), and general
poor driving which he put above speeding. The government ignored him to make
money on cameras.


Speed may not be a major cause of accidents, but it sure as heck makes
what might be a close shave or a minor bump into something much much
worse. Poor junctions, poor signage, poor lighting and so on all
contribute, but breaking the speed limit is a pretty reliable sign of a
selfish attitude to sharing the road which can cause a lot of problems.
"Speeding is a victimless crime so why are the police hounding people
for it?" Grow up.

An example. There is a road near here which is absolutely straight for
nearly a mile. On a good day you can see from one end to the other.
People who don't know the road like to race down it.

People who do know the road know that not only is there a hidden dip,
quite big enough to conceal a small car, but that there is a golf course
on both sides of the road and three or four places where golfers
regularly cross, there are also houses. To be honest, even 60mph can be
dangerous on this road. As it happens, there is no camera on the road,
though there are signs.

As this road nears our house the speed limit reduces to 40mph. Very few
people take note of this limit and most of the time they will not have
any problems - but you try crossing it with a toddler or a pram as we
have to (no underpass, no bridge, no crossing, and the lights just up
the road are designed to maximise traffic flow and make crossing the
road at the lights *more* dangerous than crossing nearer our house) and
you will see what I mean by speeding being selfish.

Given the fact that most speeders blithely ignore the limit, if the
possibility of cameras makes them think, then they can only be a good
thing. As I said before, it is emphatically *not* the cameras which
cause the accidents, it is those stupid drivers who see them and,
suddenly realising that they could get another three points on the
licence, slam out the anchors without thinking.

If, however, you remember the speed limits and stick to them then speed
cameras can safely be completely ignored in the same way that if you
don't try to take a kilo of pot with you through customs you can safely
ignore the officers scanning your baggage.

The problem with preaching (as I seem to be doing) is that no-one is
perfect and so I hereby confess that there have been occasions in my
16-year driving career when I have broken the speed limit. Mostly
completely inadvertantly and immediately corrected, twice or three times
completely deliberately - but the deliberate cases were all on empty
stretches of motorway and I wouldn't have complained, though I would
have felt very stupid, if I'd been clocked.

I have never tried to take anything so much as a grain of tobacco
through customs :-)

Hwyl!

M.

--
Martin Angove: http://www.tridwr.demon.co.uk/
Don't fight technology, live with it: http://www.livtech.co.uk/
.... I am Popeye of Borg. Prepare to be askimilgrated.