Jye

I wouldnt mind as much if the cameras could catch the uninsured, those without tax, drunk drivers, those on drugs, criminals using cars for crime, stolen vehicles, defective tyres, vehicles without MOT's etc etc. But they cannot, only more police on the roads can do this and as cameras are now seen to be replacing them, even by the police themselves, it's as shortsighted and simple as that for me.

OllyK

I don't have an issue particularly with speed cameras outside schools and a significantly reduced speed limit, as long as it is variable. I.e. for an hour or so either side of start, lunch and close the Camera is active along with big flashing signs warning of the danger and reduced speeds. During the evening and school holidays etc, there is no need for the lower speed to be in place unless there is some special event occuring within the school.

If exceeding the speed limit really was a major factor in road accidents and injuries I would probably agree with you. The trouble is that it isn't. Inappropriate speed for the conditions however IS a big factor and many accidents occur within the speed limits becuase the driver was travelling too fast for the conditions.

Which is more dangerous:
1) Travelling at 80mph on a clear, dry, empty motorway at 3am
2) Travelling at 60mph on an ice covered national speed limit road that has numerous other vehicles and obstructions on it?

Chances of an accident in case 1 are pretty slim but it is illegal, case 2 is perfectly legal, but very likely to result in an accident.

Tiggs

ok...so lets saythe police dealt with this:

"those without tax, drunk drivers, those on drugs, criminals using cars for crime, stolen vehicles, defective tyres, vehicles without MOT's etc etc"

to your liking....and put up more cameras...would you be happy? NO because you want to drive faster than allowed, its a simple and selfish as that and why the anti camera brigade will never win. If you really cared about road deaths then campaign for things that reduce them- stop moaning about cameras.

the same thing happens when someone is raped/mugged etc...pll will say "ohhh...we should have less police checking small plates on cars then this wouldnt happen" NO! we need more police dealing with the muggers.....and we still need the police dealing with the plates. You cant selected your area of police presence to allign with your prefered area of law breaking!

ajm

Yes you can, its called prioritisation. Unless you are about to argue that small plates are as important as murder victims then, given fixed resources, police activities should be primarily focussed on what the public, i.e. the citizens of a democracy, see as the important issues, and I'm afraid small number plates and speeding are not "up there" with offences that actually have victims!

Tiggs

lets close the police down then and direct the funds into cancer research.

you have to cover all basis.....i am more concerned with people speeding round my neighbourhood than i am about being mugged or killed.

and whats that got to do with cameras? they are perfect arent they? they allow police to focus on other stuff and not speeders!

ajm

Yes, but we all know they are deployed in the wrong manner. They tend to be stuck in places where is it is safe to go over the posted speed limit, where speed limits change without reason and where they are hard to see, i.e. in places where people are most likely to be caught. These places are NOT necessarily the same places where exceeding the posted speed limit is likely to cause an accident. Hardly a "perfect" arrangement for reducing injuries whilst minimising police resource.

Faire D'Income

Tiggs, that's an interesting point of view and whilst I partly agree with you I don't believe that's where we'll end up. If you look back at the netting off policy, initially all funds went back to the Exchequer and it was at this point that many people, incorrectly, assumed that the Police were getting part of the revenue. This then changed to a system whereby seven Police forces could apply for a portion of the funds which could then be used for the installation and maintenance of camera installations. Since then, we now have over 30 Police forces participating and pretty soon all UK Police forces will be involved. Sooner or later, the Government is going to allow the forces to use the funds collected as part of their overall budget and slowly but surely the Exchequer will reduce their budget allocations until the Police are forced increasingly to rely on the camera revenue - at which point we'll start to see a decline in overall Police numbers.

That's where this is going, nothing more and nothing less.

OllyK

I am moaning about something that rather than saving lives is costing them. Ok there are the arguments for the distraction elements etc that is making the situation worse, but there is a more worrying issue.

If we are spending millions of pounds on something that is supposed to reduce road death and it has done next to nothing to reduce road death in the last 10 years, do we keep investing millions of pounds in it or do we go back to the drawing board and look at the problem again and see if there are not more effective ways of dealing with the issues?

If the government were actually trying other initiatives that were working and were using cameras selectively where they were shown to be effective then fine, but this is just indescriminate blanket bombing.

They can put cameras every 10 feet on every road in the country and people will still have accidents, and within the speed limits, which is when most of them occur anyway. The speeding element of accidents is such a minimal part that no matter how much money they throw at speeding it is not going to have a significant impact on the road death rate in this country.

Jye

As if the police will actually catch REAL crims in huge enough numbers to satisfy anyone, lol. What planet have you just beamed down from tiggs? Cameras will reduce police numbers ffs. Why do you think many in the police are already decrying cameras? I'll tell you why, they fear for their future.

BTW, I dont speed in mt car, at all, ever, I bought and drive a diesel car to save money not to burn up the roads

Road death reduction is a total and complete red herring. It's known by every driver in the UK what scameras are really for, all except you it seems. You must be very niavie or very blinkered to still believe the official mantra and spiel

Wake up soon and get over yourself


I'm sure that you are far better qualified to comment than either of those two though tiggs