hedgehog

I know that some on here have an interest in the case that Idris Francis is taking to the European Court of Human Rights. Idris is claiming that it is illegal to send people letters demanding they confess to a crime on pain of an even greater penalty if they don't confess etc. etc.

Anyhow, it was thought that we would have a judgement on the case in the first quarter of this year but I have heard than the case has now been referred to the Grand Chamber which hears cases that raise "significant legal issues."

This is certainly an interesting development and may give some indication that Idris has presented a strong case if the implications of any judgement are having to be considered by the Grand Chamber. It does, however, make it impossible to give any estimate as to when we might see a judgement.

corradoboy

Keep us posted

Dr Hu

hmmm - they keep sinking this one for months/years at a time.....

Makes you wonder why.....

alcazar

iTrader: (2)

Doesn't make me wonder...........cameras are about revenue, simple fact

The powers that be can't afford to have one of their revenue streams cut off

Alcazar

Brendan Hughes

Except for things like publishing injunctions and rights to abortion, legal cases take years, end of. I don't see the need to get all Government Conspiracy about it.

Leslie

It would be good if he succeeded in stopping such bullying behavior.

Les

DJ140

Whatever the judgement the Government will ignore it. Anyone that saw the programme about the financing of people in care on Sunday night will know what I mean.

Can you imagine Blair scrapping speeding charges, no chance

^Qwerty^

They won't scrap it, it will just become a decrimalised(sp?) offence. That means you'll still get a fine, but no points.

However once that happens, ye'old Bill of Rights comes into play, which some people are having as much fun with, in shafting various establishments.

The PACE route of shafting the Scamerati is also continuing.

You never know, one day we might get traffic police back who can actually tackle the real problems on our roads.

SiDHEaD

I like the sound of no points, makes the revenue collection easier to swallow!

fast bloke

**** - I would love no points. Speeding for the loaded

OllyK

That's the problem though - the idiots at BRAKE seem to the think those that have issue with speed cameras are just speed freaks wanting to get away with driving past schools at 60mph at peak time.

The real point is that cameras are not very effective at reducing accidents and saving lives, the merely reduce speed which is 1 very small factor in an accident. Driver attention (or in-attention), skill, observation, being sober in a well maintained car etc etc are all more significant factors than 3 or 4 mph around an arbitary speed limit which in some cases can actually be far to high for the conditions anyway. It is important that we get driving skills increased rather than dumbing down the driver.

mart360

As an aside,

i see speed cams are to be subject to an official investigation following a near fatal crash in front of one of the scamera units,

It transpires the person involved looked away from the road to make sure he wasnt over the limit, and lost control.

the scam unit is being cited as a contributing factor


Mart

OllyK

I recall a pedestrian being run over sometime back for a similar reason and this is in part perhaps why speed cameras are not effective, people are getting paranoid about their speed and are not paying attention to the road.

TonyG

Not sure if anyone's ever done any proper investigation into this, but some time back I got to thinking about maintaining a constant speed. It's all back of the envelope calculations, but......

I can probably estimate my speed while in the car to about 5mph. To keep to the speed limit, you've got to be checking your speedo at least evey 30 seconds, probably more frequently. At 30 mph, you're travelling 44 feet per second. Assuming that it only takes 0.5 sec to look at your speedo to check the speed (and I reckon that it probably takes longer than that), then you've travelled 22 feet with your eyes off the road. Interestingly, the extra stopping distance at 35 mph (according to the formula that is used to calculate stopping distances in the Highway code) is 21 feet. So what's safer? Not looking at the road for a distance of 22 feet but being within the speed limit, or looking forward for hazards such as kids running out and running the risk of being slightly over?

SiDHEaD

WOAAHHH THERE!! You can't apply common sense to anti-speeding!

OllyK

Yes - look at safespeed.org, they have done some calculations.

^Qwerty^

When doing my IAM type stuff, I was told, and indeed now agree that one of the best ways of maintaining a constant speed is to listen to the engine if you don't want to take your eyes off the road. This is especially the case on motorbikes, but it also appears to work in cars.

However as you get busted for a few mph excess these days, you do indeed have to keep taking your eyes off the road to check your speedo, and thus re-calibrate your hearing measurement. Sad really.

OllyK

Not easy to do with Iron Maiden blasting out of the stereo or while you're chatting to a mate on the phone (hands free of course)