wacky.banana

Just seen a news item on Sky that indicates speed camera operation from tomorrow morning on the M4 between J13 & J18 to enforce the 70mph speed limit. It's not clear what these cameras are, ie SPECS or other, but I suspect SPECS.

Please be aware. If you have further info on this please post up on here.

Thanks

WB

OllyK

According to the SPECS suppliers this is where all the SPECS currently are (as of Mar 05).

Also do a search for the appropriate sCamera partnership, they usually state where they have located cameras or where they are planning to

SirFozzalot

Thats a handy link!

hedgehog

A new revenue stream for the scamers and the police pension fund. Actually not really as they are already using cameras on the M6 in Cumbria and claiming huge success. All the usual "accidents down by 40% at camera sites." You can see the Cumbria fatality figures below, the scamming operation started in April 2003:

Year Fatalities

2000 56
2001 49
2002 49
2003 53
2004 59


Times

Britain
April 12, 2005

Speed cameras to enforce 70mph motorway limit By Ben Webster, Transport Correspondent

THE last haven where drivers can creep over the speed limit is being invaded by cameras.

From tomorrow one of Britain's busiest motorways will be monitored in the first attempt to enforce the 70mph limit.

Until now police have struck only when motorists drive well over the limit on motorways. With their central barriers, gentle curves and grade separated junctions, motorways are considered to be far safer than any other road.

Shortly after midday tomorrow, drivers on the M4 in Wiltshire, between junctions 14 and 18, will face a £60 fine and three penalty points for speeding by as little as 9mph.

Cameras in marked vans will be operated from bridges over the motorway.
Police and civilian operators will use laser guns on vehicles when they come within a kilometre of the bridges. Under the rules governing mobile cameras, the vans must be visible from 100 metres. But most drivers will be caught long before they come within that range.

More than half of all cars on motorways exceed the speed limit and a fifth travel at more than 80mph. Existing patrols tend to book only motorists who exceed 85mph.

Last night motoring groups accused the Wiltshire & Swindon Safety Camera Partnership of seeking to raise revenue without offering any evidence that safety would be improved.

Motorways are five times safer per mile driven than the average road and eight times safer than urban A roads. There were 9 crashes per 100 million vehicle kilometres on motorways in 2003, compared with 76 on urban A roads.
Most of Britain's 6,000 speed cameras are on A roads. On motorways they usually enforce only temporary speed limits during roadworks. The southwest section of the M25 has cameras on gantries to enforce the lower speed limit in operation during congested periods.

Under Department for Transport rules, camera partnerships can deploy mobile cameras only on stretches where there have been at least two collisions resulting in death or serious injuries per kilometre in the previous three years.

The Wiltshire partnership, which includes the police and the county council, will argue tomorrow that the casualty rate on the M4 is higher than on the average motorway and meets the level required by the department. There were 18 deaths, 69 serious injuries and 641 slight injuries between junctions 15 and 17 between 2001 and 2004.

Signs on the M4 and approach roads will alert drivers that they are entering a speed-trap area but they will not know where the vans will be parked. A spokeswoman for the partnership said that motorists who slow down for the yellow Gatso cameras before speeding up again would be caught by the M4 cameras: "People aren't supposed to slow down just because they have seen a camera. They are supposed to slow down because it's the law." She said that the trigger speed for the cameras could be as low as 79mph and "could change from day to day". The exact speed will remain confidential to prevent drivers from setting their cruise controls just below it.

The RAC Foundation accused the partnership of using irrelevant crash statistics to justify deploying cameras. Edmund King, its director, said that the casualty problem on the M4 was caused largely by people driving too close to the vehicle in front, stopping on the hard shoulder, overtaking without checking mirrors and failing to slow down for fog.

ROAD SAFETY
Motorways account for a fifth of road traffic. In 2003, 184 people died on motorways compared with 1,890 on rural roads

The average speed of cars on motorways (71 mph) has remained about the same since 1998

The proportion of cars exceeding the 70mph limit was 57 per cent in 2003, up from 54 per cent in 2002

stevem2k

They are using mobile talivans along this stretch and allegedly enforcing 70mph. It was in the Times this morning.

Steve

Iwan

There are 2 fixed GATSO cameras between J17 and J18 on the M4, one on each carriageway. There are also speed camera signs on the same stretch, but these were covered up with green tarpaulins last time I drove past about a week ago.

warrenm2

STOP THIS MADNESS NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

(BTW The only party to say they will remove cameras is Conservatives - vote wisely)

pappasmurf

.....are the speed cameras on the speed regulated western section of the M25 actually used to prosecute?
...i see them occasionally flash and have driven through that section in the early hours of the morning at very fast speeds, but never a ticket.

Neanderthal

iTrader: (6)

beginning of the end.

How much is the fine for driving without a license plate?

Freak

£30 fixed penalty non endorsable

Nexuas

Think we need to have some lorry drivers up for a rolling road blockade? bring all three lanes down to 50MPH for a few weeks, and they will get bored and give up when the money fails to pour in...

Also the chaos should keep the road traffic police busy...

Leslie

As Hedgehog says, they wont give you much leeway before they book you either!

As the man said-"Vote wisely"

Les

andy97

iTrader: (1)

With the distances between a pair of specs cameras, usually a few hundred yards, can be more. Even if you go through the first camera way above the limit, just slow right down and your average should be ok for the distance travelled.

merlin

Just hope the tailgater is paying attention when you try this...

John Catlin

They have all forgotten why the Police were set up by Robert Peel, to DETER crime.

Why spend all this money when a patrol car can do the same, if spped is the problem.

Just look how close lorries travel along this stretchn and others.

Iain Young

Which is actually the cause of most accidents on the M4. I drive that strectch of road every day and the standard of driving is shockingly bad. Cameras won't pick that up though

speedking

The original SCP quote on the BBC site said "If all these people (240 KSI's) were wiped out in one day". Now revised to say "... were involved in an incident in one day." not quite so dramatic is it? Either SCP dramatising, or BBC not quoting factually

If they were all in an incident in one day we could all drive like loonies for the other 364 days a year without fear of coming to harm Don't you just love manipulation of statistics.

hades

Entirely true for specs. Unfortunately, all the local news etc has said that these will be camera vans, parked on different bridges every day, etc. Two intersting quotes "They are highly visible at 100m away", but "they will measure speed and prosecute at a range of 1km" - i.e by the time you've seen them, it's too late.

I've read (the Times on-line?) the actual prosecution speed would be 79+ - i.e. 10%+2

wacky.banana

My worry is that other sCamera Partnerships will think this is a good idea and latch onto this madness. There is no doubt in my mind that accident rates will rise as a result of people seeing the vans and braking hard as they check their speed to see how fast they have been travelling.

Even if you are doing the requisite 70mph, if your natural reaction is to brake sharply (lots of people do this) then it will be a recipe for disaster.

What excuse will these scammers use then?

WB

Neil Smalley

That they need more cameras obviously...