Fixed saftey camera removed
 

:luxhello::luxhello::luxhello:
Not sure how many of you Chesterfield lot have noticed but on the way back from the Midlands Mega Meet when we turned left out of St. Augustine's road (i think) onto the A61 towards the roundabout for the A617, there was a nasty money collector sited near the shops and bus stop just before the Volvo garage :( my road angel beeps and flashes like a bugger going past there, well yesterday it did the same but the camera has gone :eek: :thumb: :D :luxhello::luxhello:

Anyone no why would be intrested to knew the offical reason??
i reckon it's cos of the bus stop which is just in front of it, so when the bus stops to pick up the passengers it blocks the line of sight for the money grabber therefore losing them money, but i could be wrong

Bet there will be some sprining up on the A610 out towards Ikea though!! They are dropping the speed limit from NSL to 40 for the first mile or so after the M1 r/about and then to 50 till past Ikea. Back up to NSR by the time it goes from dual carriage way to standard A road though :rolleyes:

Wot ... I thought the signs were still left over from the roadworks ... so they have put up big metal barriers and are now going to reduce the speed ... ffs ... just trying to remember how many accidents there have been on that stretch !

Oh but of cause ... more traffic going to IKEA (lots more at the weekends) ... hmm nice way to make money

Bastids !

There has been a moritorium placed upon camera partnership recruitment and it is being suggested by some that this may indicate a "beginning of the end" situation.

They are certainly so overloaded with work that if they can't take more staff then they are going to have to reduce the number of fines they process. With this in mind it is possible that they will also reduce the number of cameras, at least in the short term, to reduce the cost of servicing them etc.

My concern is that the work of the partnerships will be centralised into the DfT and that they may even form a countrywide "Department of Personal Mobility" which will then be charged with introducing road tolls and Intelligent Speed Adaptation. Clearly this would not happen until after the election but would allow the government to make some nice statements, in the run up to the election, about cameras being reduced etc. etc. If they have a black box in your car they don't need the cameras.

There are certainly a lot of unhappy people in the partnerships at present and even some of the "big" names have just vanished to be replaced by someone from the DfT.

So, perhaps it has gone as part of this situation? Perhaps not as, clearly, it is impossible to be sure exactly what is going on in those partnerships.

I thought that at first, but it was only 50mph when they were there, the last 1/2 mile or more now has a 40mph sign but with the grey paint on it, so not active yet. It does make me laugh, 1 lane with roadworks to add safety features to the road and the limit is 50, work finished, 2 lanes back open with improved safety and they are going to drop it to 40.

Oh there have been plenty of accidents, but I have yet to see one that occured at more than about 10mph. It's mostly muppets sitting on the arse of the person in front on the approach to the roundabout in queueing traffic :rolleyes:

Paul Smith at Safe Speed has just released the following which may be relevant:

The DfT confirmed today that a ban on increasing staff numbers has been issued to all camera partnerships in England and Wales. Safe Speed hopes this is the beginning of the end of greedy and dangerous speed camera enforcement.

The DfT spokesperson said: "It was deemed to be prudent to prevent further increases in staff pending a review. The review will start in April on a by-partnership basis. Letters have been sent to each partnership."

Paul Smith, founder of the Safe Speed road safety campaign said: "For years we have been pointing out that speed cameras are making the roads more dangerous. I hope and pray that this unexpected move is the dawning of realisation at the DfT that all it not well with the failed speed camera programme."

"With Notices of prosecution issued last year exceeding 3.1 million and an increase in road deaths (up to 3,508) It should be extremely obvious to everyone that speed camera policy is not making the roads safer. In fact our most careful analysis indicates that speed cameras are making the roads significantly more dangerous as the process of driving is dumbed down and drivers have become paranoid for fear of their licences."

Safe Speed calls for an immediate end to speed camera use on British roads and an urgent return to the proven policies that gave us the safest roads in the world in the first place.