petersen

People,

So there I am last night driving to the Esso petrol station in Grays (no white sock or shell suit jokes please) for "provisions" only to find out that it's shut for some reason @ 8PM. So continue along the road 1/2 mile to the roundabout to double back to go to the town centre for said "provisions".

Anyway poodling along (think I was anyway) not thinking about much, pass a van parked on the verge, go round the roundabout and come back. Now I see the van from the front. It's a bloody unmarked speed trap, with mobile flash and camera etc. Guy sitting inside probably trying to work out the math of how much he would earn if he was commissioned on various percentages.

Now, the road is a 40, I didn't recognise a flash in my rear view, was not "flying" so may have only been doing max 45 (4 gear for definite) and may have got off, although don't know as really was not paying attention. Suppose I'll have to wait for the post over the next few weeks.

What's really pissed me off is that there was NO WARNING. OK so you should not be speeding, but the whole issue at the moment is that the Police are trying to assure people that speed traps are not for revenue accrual but are a deterrant. So how can this be a deterrant if there is no warning?? other than the deterrant of ramping every driver's (in the country) points to the point of potential ban, so everybody drives @ 30 for 3 years!

So i'm really pi**ed and start thinking I want to go home, make a placard with "Mobile Speed Camera In Opetation Here" in big letters and go & stand right in front of the van, thereby warning other motorists. What's the difference between that and the fixed camera in operation signs, i'm just a civilian assisting the police.

So my question is:- if one did this, is this illegal??

Look forward to everyone's points of view

Stuart.

DavidBrown

Ha !

The tax paying citizens of Northampton have endured this underhand nonsense for over a year now.

In a parallel universe I'd take a baseball bat to them.

Of course, there's no excuse for breaking the law, but it's their methods that irk, and that there's no common sense applied to it (ie. catching people on a 30mph dual carriage way, and not outside schools)

[This message has been edited by DavidBrown (edited 16 July 2001).]

TRIGGER

As there are always warning signs before fixed Gatso cameras, I was under the impression that it was a legal requirement. It should follow that for mobile (but static) cameras they also need warning ??

chiark

Yes, it's illegal for you to do what you propose as you're obstructing an officer performing his duty - even though you're achieving the same effect of slowing people down, which is what they really want (yeah, right ). Even if he's not a police office and is a civvy, I daresay they'd get you somehow.

I know of one incident where someone was arrested for doing the same. Dunno the outcome.

DavidBrown

As in another thread about Hallow, some of these are manned by civilians, and not police.. wonder where you stand on that issue..

jon hill

but whats the difference between a mobile camera trap and a radar / laser gun trap ? Apart from the fact they dont chase you done the road to give you a ticket...

You dont see many signs in front of the common or garden traps saying "plod with hairdryer behind the next tree"

jon

chiark

People, read the question!

"Would it be illegal to warn people of the presence of an unmarked/unsigned detector van?" is the question

NOT "is it legal for the police to set up an unmarked speed trap". The answer to this one is fairly obvious.

Jerome

I stated this in a post the other day, but I'll mention it again here anyway.

A builder working on a site noticed a speed trap (with Police officers) and decided to warn drivers. He wrote on a bit of cardboard "speed trap ahead" and left it next to the road by the site. The officers mounting the trap were peeved that they weren't collecting any tax. They drove off and noticed the sign, made equiries and found the culprit. The builder was done for perverting the course of justice or interfering with a police officer etc. Can't remember what the punishment was, but I suspect a big fine to recoup some of the lost tax. In others words, it would be illegal to put up such a sign.

When I lived in Farnborough, Hants, there were frequent speed traps on my walk to the station. On numerous occasions I was tempted to do something similar. I would have been long gone before they found the sign as well.

If you do want to put up a sign, be discreet when laying it down, and don't stand next to the sign or you could be in trouble. I'll probably get done now for encouraging a crime...

[This message has been edited by Jerome (edited 16 July 2001).]

chiark

Jerome, ta for that. Your post was the one that I was referring to

TRIGGER

Sorry - didnt really read the question properly.

It sounds very clearly like it is illegal after what Jerome said. But how about putting a sign up saying 'Slow down or you might get stopped...' - that cant possibly be illegal as loads of people put signs out near us saying slow down.

ed the dead

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:<HR>Originally posted by Jerome:
<B>I stated this in a post the other day, but I'll mention it again here anyway.

A builder working on a site noticed a speed trap (with Police officers) and decided to warn drivers. He wrote on a bit of cardboard "speed trap ahead" and left it next to the road by the site. The officers mounting the trap were peeved that they weren't collecting any tax. They drove off and noticed the sign, made equiries and found the culprit. The builder was done for perverting the course of justice or interfering with a police officer etc. Can't remember what the punishment was, but I suspect a big fine to recoup some of the lost tax. In others words, it would be illegal to put up such a sign.

When I lived in Farnborough, Hants, there were frequent speed traps on my walk to the station. On numerous occasions I was tempted to do something similar. I would have been long gone before they found the sign as well.

If you do want to put up a sign, be discreet when laying it down, and don't stand next to the sign or you could be in trouble. I'll probably get done now for encouraging a crime...

[This message has been edited by Jerome (edited 16 July 2001).][/quote]

"...interfering with a police officer..."

Scott W

A few years ago there was a speedtrap in my local village and I warned a couple of other car drivers about it by flashing my lights, and waving for them to slow down - to cut a long story short, I got pulled over by a local "beat" car who witnessed me doing this and received a severe talking to by the officer, and warned that it is an offence to perform such an action.

I was fortunate enough to just get the caution, but at 19 it didn't half scare the life out of me!

MattN

well in sunny Basingstoke there are loads of signs indicating speed camera's. but to my knowledge they are all mobile ones.

I got stopped (rountine but I was going a bit quick) just before the camera on a dual carridgeway. Was told at my speed if I lost control of the car I could serve across the central reservation on to the oncoming traffic. This was why the camera was there as it would prevent an accident as people going slower wouldn't lose control and collide with the oncoming traffic. OK I thought fair enough, but

a) no signs saying this was exactly where the camera was so in effect the sign is always there but the camera isn't, so in my opinon it defeats it's own purpose (if you know the area you'd be aware the camera isn't there, if you don't know the area chances are you won't going as fast).

b) such an incident has never occured.

c) I heard of an invention called a crash barrier, thought that might be useful as even at 70 mph if the grass in the central reservation was wet you still wouldn't stop short of the oncoming traffic.

Basically, I think the signs should be there to say 'this is an accident blackspot slow down or face a fine etc. Also next time we dig up the road rather they re-design it to make it safer we'll leave it the same but make the surface more bumpy so it is easier to lose control of your speeding car!!

boxst

Off thread ... but I like the idea of the first one!!!

-=-=-

GOOD:
A policeman had a perfect spot to watch for speeders, but wasn't getting many. Then he discovered the problem - a 10-year-old boy was standing up the road with a hand painted sign, which read "RADAR TRAP AHEAD". The officer then found a young accomplice down the road with a sign reading "TIPS" and a bucket
full of change. (And we used to just sell lemonade.)

BETTER:
A motorist was mailed a picture of his car speeding through an automated radar post. A $40 speeding ticket was included. Being cute, he sent the police department a picture of $40. The police responded with another mailed photo of Handcuffs.

BEST:
A young woman was pulled over for speeding. As the motorcycle officer walked to her car window, flipping open his ticket book, she said, "I bet you are going to sell me a ticket to the Highway Patrolmen's Ball.
" He replied, "Highway Patrolmen don't have *****."
There was a moment of silence while she smiled, and he realized what he'd just said. He then closed his book, got back on his motorcycle and left. She was laughing too hard to start her car for several minutes.