Speeding motorists

[Barks]

Hero? No antisocial and quite why the Police did not act straight away and even worse take no follow up action is exactly why we have such low level ignoring of the basic rule of law. One day this individual just may be on the wrong end of a speeding motorist, I wonder if he then might reflect a bit more on what he has really achieved here.

[thirdcrank]

I'm embarrassed to admit that I've missed one of my own frequently trotted out hobby horses here and it's made worse by there being a clue in my link. The driver who obstructed the enforcement van mentioned that he had been warned about harassment by an inspector who visited him later. I presume the point is - even if he missed it - that it's the first stage in the procedure to confiscate the vehicle if he persists.

The legislation is sec 59 of the Police Reform Act 2002, which deals with "Vehicles used in manner causing alarm, distress or annoyance"

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2002/30/section/59

[gaz]

And who took the picture?

More on that here.

[thirdcrank]

gaz

That's fascinating: truly a cunning stunt.


======================================
PS

Have you any similar inside info about this?

https://www.thecourier.co.uk/fp/news/lo ... g-hotspot/

[Cyril Haearn]

By coincidence this has just emerged: a driver boasting about parking in front of a camera van to obstruct its operation.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... l?ITO=1490

The rather depressing feature of this case appears to be that nobody seems to have known how to get him to move along. Perhaps more an indication of the decline in traffic policing than anything else. And who took the picture?

Maybe he was one of us, trying to hide it a bit so the speeders could not see it.. alternative facts

[thirdcrank]

I don't think a Carradice Longflap would be big enough

[Lance Dopestrong]

Apart from my numerous cycle related activities, I am also a member of the local Community Speed Watch.
We regularly record people driving in a 30 zone at 40mph &more. On a rough calculation, approximately 10% of the drivers who passed us are exceeding the limit & this doesn't include those who brake sharply when then see a speed gun pointed in their direction!
We pass the recorded information to the police who then send out a warning letter.
Will we ever get to time when speeding is seen as unacceptable as drink driving?
Incidentally, there are a surprisingly high number of vehicles that when checked, we find have no Mot, insurance or tax/duty.

A couple of years ago I when I was a police officer I was asked by a colleague to discretely speed check a group of Speed Watch volunteers as they left a session at the police training building. Every single one exceeded the speed limit, a couple significantly so.

In a neighbouring force, a friend of mine was doing speed enforcement and one one particular day caught the head of the speed watch group and the head of the residents action group against speeding. More than half of the rest were residents of the village he was targeting.

Not universally, but by and large these people drive as inconsiderately, dangerously and unlawfully as anyone else does.

[The utility cyclist]

in a similar vein I see many cars with spendy bikes on roof/hanging off the bike being driven like complete morons, as I always say, i expect these people drive their cars exactly the same way they ride their bikes
I've started standing halfway down my street and taking photos at certain times of day of those that are speeding, it's approx 100m from entrance to the bottom with no exit. There's a few that are well over 40mph either entering or leaving, I make sure to ping the flash off and then if coming down the street have a word, they don't like it but then I don't like the fact they drive like @@@@@S in a residential area that is totally uncessary
I remember the kids being able to play out IN the street not 20 years ago, now, none of them do because of the reckless speeding.

[Cyril Haearn]

Apart from my numerous cycle related activities, I am also a member of the local Community Speed Watch.
We regularly record people driving in a 30 zone at 40mph &more. On a rough calculation, approximately 10% of the drivers who passed us are exceeding the limit & this doesn't include those who brake sharply when then see a speed gun pointed in their direction!
We pass the recorded information to the police who then send out a warning letter.
Will we ever get to time when speeding is seen as unacceptable as drink driving?
Incidentally, there are a surprisingly high number of vehicles that when checked, we find have no Mot, insurance or tax/duty.

A couple of years ago I when I was a police officer I was asked by a colleague to discretely speed check a group of Speed Watch volunteers as they left a session at the police training building. Every single one exceeded the speed limit, a couple significantly so.

In a neighbouring force, a friend of mine was doing speed enforcement and one one particular day caught the head of the speed watch group and the head of the residents action group against speeding. More than half of the rest were residents of the village he was targeting.

Not universally, but by and large these people drive as inconsiderately, dangerously and unlawfully as anyone else does.

Maybe that is why the brain is in two halves

This sort of thing should be taken up by the media more

I have sadly been driving a lot lately. Often I am the slowest driver when doing the maximum speed allowed. For normal drivers the maximum is the minimum

[pwa]

I am concerned about speeding vehicles. I think speed limits are there to help us. But, like most people who have some respect for speed limits, I probably exceed a limit every time I go out in the car. Not by much and not for long, but I do it all the same. I can think of one particular bit of road where I adopt a relaxed attitude to the 30mph limit and decelerate by taking my foot off the accelerator rather than braking, meaning that I don't get down to the limit until I'm a good 200 metres into the 30 zone. There are no buildings by the road there, just hedge lined fields, and by the time I get to the driveway of the first house in that village I'm down to 30 or less. I'm not sticking to the letter of the law but I'm sticking to the spirit. As I go through the village I'm within the limit and looking for things that might require me to slow further. I don't say this to seek anyone's approval, or to justify myself, but to show one (I think) common approach to limits. I speed. But only to smooth out a transition zone in, I think, a safe way. I believe I get the important bit right and have my speed down where it matters.

My approach to speed limits, which some will disapprove of, is just one of probably many. At one end we have people who try to stick to the letter of the law, though even they will exceed a limit by accident occasionally. At the other end we have those who grossly exceed limits for pleasure. In between we have those who take the limit and add a bit. I'm slower than the latter. I slow down on both sides of the limit sign, not just on the approach to it. And I do that only where there are no homes, schools or whatever.

I imagine most safety conscious drivers speed a bit. By accident or otherwise. There must be very few of us who can talk about "speeding motorists" and not think, "actually, in a small way, I'm a speeding motorist". But I don't lump myself in with the driver of the car I saw doing about 60mph down a 30mph road in Bridgend last night. I don't feel any kinship with people who cruise down 30mph roads at 40. I don't even think that my modest, short lived periods of speeding are a danger in the fairly precise circumstances in which I do it.

There we are! I got that off my chest.

[Lance Dopestrong]

Why aren't the government having new vehicles fitted with GPS or road sign recognition speed limiters?

Well, we know why, because come next election they would no longer be the government.

[pwa]

Why aren't the government having new vehicles fitted with GPS or road sign recognition speed limiters?

Well, we know why, because come next election they would no longer be the government.

Would that technology work safely? Serious question. The usual scenario put forward when talking about speed limiting cars is that of someone who is overtaking within the speed limit but finds that they have got it wrong and don't have enough time to complete the pass unless they put in a short burst of speed. So, breaking the limit for a few seconds to compensate for a cockup and avoiding a head-on collision. I know that is the sort of thing that could be put forward by people who just want to have cars that still allow speeding, but it is a real life scenario. I'm ashamed to have to admit that a long time ago I got caught out that way, and floored the accelerator to get me and everyone else out of the danger that I had created.

[thirdcrank]

I think that's called a self-serving argument.

[pwa]

I think that's called a self-serving argument.

If you mean it is designed to enable me to continue speeding, I don't put it forward myself for that reason, but as I said, some would. But, as I also said, in the distant past I did find that a moment of speeding got me and others out of a danger that I had created by trying to overtake a slow moving vehicle at the wrong time. I know I should not have got us in that situation in the first place.

[old_windbag]

A couple of years ago I when I was a police officer I was asked by a colleague to discretely speed check a group of Speed Watch volunteers as they left a session at the police training building. Every single one exceeded the speed limit, a couple significantly so.

I understand this point first hand, village speeding issues that don't apply to the residents who can do as they please because they live there. I guess not unlike school run mum who declares the roads unsafe for her children even though she is part of perceived danger she fears.

, it's approx 100m from entrance to the bottom with no exit

See this regularly, identical situation to my own, cannot fathom the marginal gains people feel they get when in a street like this 20 is plenty. For good reason.

meaning that I don't get down to the limit until I'm a good 200 metres into the 30 zone.

Bit of a bug bear with me from the past where I said we should have markers to warn of an iminent 30 zone. Then a couple of years later in my neck of the woods they experimented with count down boards into a local village to reduce the speeding issues they had. They also had cameras so you were given good distance to slow and if you didn't you'd be caught. Not sure if they gave up on the idea but I think to have transition points is sensible if you don't know the roads, locals do. I thought that to be caught speeding you had to be speeding over a measured distance so as long as your average is below 30 within the measured distance inside the start of the 30 it may be ok, i.e as in lift off decelleration.

I do think black boxes are what we need in all cars, at least we could be harsher on people whose data shows they are regular offenders as opposed to those who may one slip up once in a blue moon. Though in time terms he who does 60 in a 30 zone may not be at the scene of the accident as opposed to he who does 40................. in other words can we really avoid what and where we are in time and space, or are we on a fixed time path heading for these events? Anyway we should keep speeding for circuits, and thats not one way systems of seaside resorts.