I’m curious…how did the use of “speed cameras” become so prevalent in the U.K.? When did they go in to widespread use?
I often read your ride preparations posts here and they often say “nice ride but watch out for the speed cameras here, here and here…”
I must say that my perspective from this side of the pond is that the entire concept of “remote controlled camera issued speeding tickets in the mail” sounds like complete rubbish…the overwhelming invasion of privacy for something as marginally important as speed control seems horribly invasive…even offensive.
You guys (and gals) live with it…what are you thoughts?
They cause more accidents in some places…imagine the scenario…your behind a car approaching a speed camera, the driver sees the camera quite late and slams on the brakes thus causing an accident.
They have caused the rise of numberplate cloning.
To make matters worse, you dont just get a fine, you get 3 points on your license…translates to higher insurance premiums.
There would be an UPROAR of truly intense proportions if the government even ATTEMPTED something like this here…it took YEARS of legal wrangling to even allow closed circuit television cameras to be placed in accident prone intersections. (A concept that I disagree with most strongly, by the way…)
There are very few things that the vast majority of Americans hold more dear than privacy…often to our detriment, as the events of 9/11 pointed out. IMHO, an intrusion of this nature would be intolerable.
Yep … they have recently stopped deploying new speed cameras as there was a survey published in MCN that concluded that there were more accidents in most speed camera hot spots, instead of a decrease. It’s not just a case of someone slamming on the anchors, but many motorists (knowing there are cameras about) are watching the side of the road for cameras, and looking at their speedos instead of what’s happening around them.
Not a fan of these little revenue generators at all. Of course, I would never cough condone making your registration plate unreadable, as that is ahem illegal!!
Hi Mate its all about making money for the government they was first brought in to reduce accidents but then they realised they could make lots of money out of us this way and even now its proven that instead of reducing it increases them with people sudden braking and taking their eyes of the roads looking at the speedo etc. they adding more and more cameras and different types that you don’t even see and also once that can work out your average speed etc and now they want to put a chip in your number plate so they know who you are and where you are also how fast you are going also how fast you’ve been!!!
My point EXACTLY…people are SCREAMING over the so called Patriot Act…
Not to bog this conversation down in a bunch of political bo$$ocks, but that Act is a complete over-reaction to the events of 9/11…a bureucratic attempt to “cover their own a$$” for not properly enforcing laws, (You want to close about 90% of the loopholes that leave the security of this country in doubt? Enforce the damn immigration laws already on the books and be done with it!) laws that were already on the books for YEARS prior to 9/11 by the way, that could have…and probably SHOULD have…prevented what happened that day.
By the way…I don’t ask the question out of any kind of “finger pointing” or “I’m better than you” kind of way…I’m mostly curious about how this method of “law enforcement” came in to being…in hopes that it is never allowed to happen here.
In this country, there is that thing I can best describe as “do not complaint”.
Or “people, in majority can not be bother to complaint.”
In Europe, motorists are easy target for extra revenue, look at how much you get fine for a parking ticket (£50.00) when the same “offence” in Paris will set you back £7.50.
i havent been caught yet (im touching alot of wood while typing this) but, they are defo money makers. They should either fine u or give u points IMHO, not both.
With the coming of the speed-cameras, there’s been a massive drop in the actual policing of the roads, so for most people it’s gotten easier to have their own way. Not just speeders, but people who evade road-tax, insurance and MOT’s. It’s a joke for sure, but the government is too used to collecting the millions and millions of pounds that this system generates for them, I can’t see it going away any time soon.
Gregman, the next wave is the dangerous one, the mobile camera van, it just sits up by the side of the road and snaps away with a digital camera, so can take thousands of shots a day, and they do. As someone has said already, it’s making a not insignificant number of riders turning to using fake numberplates. People have also commented that the government should seperate out points and fines, and I’m a believer in that as well, making money is one thing, but pushing peoples insurance premiums up? That’s just oppressive.
Quite honestly, the entire scheme seems very oppressive to me…
It is difficult, if not impossible, to live in a “free” society when your every move is videotaped via close circuit television or photographed in some way, no? Too “Big Brother-ish” for my tastes.
It does have all the hallmarks of a government program though…ill conceived, poorly implemented and not generating the expected outcomes…in fact, generating outcomes that are counter-productive. :shrug
I agree with you Jay, all this money put into speed cameras and taking traffic cops off the road has led to an increase in drink driving, untaxed and uninsurance everywhere and even worse people driving who don’t have a licence!
I did read somewhere that there is a county that has no speed cameras what so ever and the roads are well policed, the good thing about this area is that there has been a fall in the amount of accidents. You only have to look at the speed camera on the A40 by B&Poo (which is closing on the 31st of jan ), the amount of rear endding that happens there is stupid, even tonight the right hand lane was closed because of this!
It would be nice if our police forces and government could get there act together and do something right for a change!
We don’t always come across as the most technical nation on the earth, but we invented the term, big-brother, there’s cameras covering nearly the entirity of London, the coverage they have is phenominal, and the Police/Intelligence services can tap into many other cctv networks not belonging to them.
They are potentially dangerous IMO , however if you know a road you know where they are and ride accordingly i.e. slow down or pop it on the back wheel as you go through
How come with all of this big brother, the situation on the roads seems to be getting worse? When was the last time you thought to yourself “that cars being driven well” instead of “christ, why didn’t they see that crossing” or “do they know what that yellow box on the road is for”?
I try not to think about this subject too much these days. Freaks me out to think that every time I go out the door theres machines everywhere taking pictures of me The nightmare vision of the future from 50 years ago is well and truly here, has been for quite some time, and the digital age will surely make it even easier for the powers that be to keep tabs on everyone.
It’s amazing to hear people say they want ID cards, more cameras, tracking systems etc etc. If we just keep accepting it we’ll just keep getting it. The “Labour” govenment has chipped away at civil liberties from day one. I find this unforgivable.
It’s a fair point that there are plenty people out there driving around illegally/pissed etc, due to the lack of policing, which is wrong, but I remember only too well what it was like 10 - 15 years ago as a biker in London, under the former government.
I worked as a dispatch rider for a few years at that time, and being harrased by the police was a daily part of the job. They used to give out so many producers that it was rare for a week to go by without yet another visit to the local station to show the same documents again!! My record was three producers in one day! There were speed traps all over the place aswell, and most bikers got a ban after totting up points.
In general though, we had more freedom then! But not on the roads.
), the amount of rear endding that happens there is stupid, even tonight the right hand lane was closed because of this!
