Please feel free to flame me and shoot my theories to pieces

1. Encourages you to calm your speed on roads do don’t know – surely a good thing? And Inversely allows you to ‘have some fun’ on the roads you do know? – Surely an even better thing?
2. Encourages you to widen your field of view and take in more, such as warning signs and hidden dangers…if you cant see a Gatso even a hidden one what chance have got seeing a dog in driveway or god forbid a child!
3. A road with a Gatso on it is unlikely to have ‘plod’ pointing his hairdryer at you
4. Gatso’s are surely the lesser of evils compared to Truvelo, Specs, Laser and Vascar

DazW

PS dont like those ones on motorway gantries tho grrrr

 

Daz,

Yes.


How's this...

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:<HR>
1.Encourages you to calm your speed on roads do don’t know – surely a good thing?
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

If you don't know the road and you are, say, 5-10mph over the limit, you then suddenly spot a hidden speed camera and slam on the breaks. Guy behind you doesn't. Smash...

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:<HR>
2. Encourages you to widen your field of view and take in more, such as warning signs and hidden dangers…if you cant see a Gatso even a hidden one what chance have got seeing a dog in driveway or god forbid a child!
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

By constantly looking out for the hidden camera's you are *not* looking out for dogs, children etc. You attention is not on your driving.

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:<HR>
3. A road with a Gatso on it is unlikely to have ‘plod’ pointing his hairdryer at you
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Can you be sure..?

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:<HR>
4. Gatso’s are surely the lesser of evils compared to Truvelo, Specs, Laser and Vascar
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

All speed trap devices which are employeed to collect revenue rather than increase safty are evil.

There you go...



[This message has been edited by Nimbus (edited 26 July 2001).]

 

could'nt of said it better myself Nimbus!!!

Daz do you agree???


TC

 

"If you don't know the road and you are, say, 5-10mph over the limit, you then suddenly spot a hidden speed camera and slam on the breaks. Guy behind you doesn't. Smash..."

Not your fault - guy behind's too close

"By constantly looking out for the hidden camera's you are *not* looking out for dogs, children etc. You attention is not on your driving."

When youre driving, youre constantly scanning the sides of the road anyway - I know I do - especially after someone left a gate open one night and a horse ran out...scary!

"Can you be sure..?"

nope cant be sure but have yet to see one

PS. Lets have a quick straw pole and see how many people have been caught by ordinary Gatso's....

DazW - Gatso's 0 Vascar 3



[This message has been edited by DazW (edited 26 July 2001).]

 

Gatso 0 Vascar 2



[This message has been edited by MartinM (edited 26 July 2001).]

 

Gatso 0 - Rozzer with Hairdryer 1

 

you really need to sleeping to get caught by vascar. IMO you need to be sleeping to get caught by anything but a laser gun behind a tree three miles away.

Gatso - 0 Vascar - 0 Laser - 0 points -0

Valentine 1

 

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:<HR>Originally posted by DazW:
<B>Not your fault - guy behind's too close [/quote]A fatal accident that is not your fault is still a fatal accident.

 

Fastbloke.....or have a high level spoiler

 

Daz,

I'm with you on this one! Gatso = unlikely to be a plod.
Get a Geodesy morpheous "accident blackspot" locator (not detector!) and away you go. No, not related to the company etc etc
More plod off catching "proper criminals" rather than motorists.

Gatso 0, Laser 1

 

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:<HR>Originally posted by DazW:
<B>Fastbloke.....or have a high level spoiler [/quote]

No wing mirrors?

I must admit that all the plod cars over here have about 4 tons of armour plating, bullet proof windows and are usually being followed by an army convoy, so they are a bit easy to spot.

 

DavidRB,

Valid point, but you cant stop people suddenly braking for what ever reason, but you can educate drivers to stop driving too close. Just MVHO of course

Fastbloke,

Wing mirrors only work when something is not directly behind you! i.e not on a long straight bit of road or motorway anyway learnt my lesson now...under 10% on Duals and Motorways now

C'mon more Gatso scores please, as theyre not doin too well

[This message has been edited by DazW (edited 26 July 2001).]

 

I've been flashed by 2 gatso's but nothing came through the post. I've been caught twice by police with lasers on the side of the road. I now have 11 points.

 

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:<HR>Originally posted by DazW:
When youre driving, youre constantly scanning the sides of the road anyway - I know I do - especially after someone left a gate open one night and a horse ran out...scary!
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

As do I. But my point is that you may be thinking about looking out for Gatso's. This could be detrimental when also thinking about keeping a good look out for other dangers.

The way the cameras are hidden these days behind signs, lamp posts etc, you find you have to concentrate hard sometimes see whether there actually is a camera there. If you are staring at a road sign for a couple of seconds, trying to determine whether there is a camera behind it, you could travel a good distance while you are not concentrating on the road.

Now, if the camera's were high visibility, all you need is one quick check, part of you normal "sweep", or it may even register in your peripheral vision. You know it's there, you can take the necessary action, still concentrate on the road.... and that 5 year old child who has just run out in front of you escapes because you were watching for them, not the cameras...

 

Forgot to add,

Not been caught speeding once in my 10 years on motoring...

Queue a pull by the plod tonight on the way home...

 

I'm almost with DazW on this one. Except that sometimes you're on the safest A-road in the world, doing 80 with good visibility and spot the white lines just past a tree/sign. I'm getting good at distinguishing a third leg to a road sign these days.

Anyway: Gatsos:0, other methods:0 - but I have been flashed once (at about 34 in a 30 - roadworks on A3, 3 lane part at 1am).

A friend of mine was nicked by a camera in Worcs. He queried it and was sent a nice piccie. It was a forward facing camera, hidden in a central reservation - I drove past the spot where the pic was taken about 5 times and couldn't see it - he claims he has now noticed it, but he drives that road to work every day. That's sly - there's nothing to hide it behind, it's just a much smaller camera.

 

Nimbus, I think we'll have to agree to disagree but i think the scores so far speak for themselves: Gatso's 0, Others 9 so why do we hate Gatso's so much?

 

either chop down the gatso or blow the fuzz away

rw

 

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:<HR>Originally posted by Scrappy-doo:
<B>Daz,

I'm with you on this one! Gatso = unlikely to be a plod.
[/quote]

You obviously don't live in Northants!

Gatso - Plod - Gatso - Mobile Van - Gatso

 

Fast bloke

&lt;&lt;&lt;you really need to sleeping to get caught by vascar. IMO you need to be sleeping to get caught by anything but a laser gun behind a tree three miles away&gt;&gt;

...err, no. Remember Vascar is based on time taken to cover a known distance. Plod can be anywhere as long as they can see the start and end points - two trees, signposts bridges etc - and push the start and stop buttons on the unit at the appropriate times.

In my case(s), plod was hiding in the forest next to the A-road (absolutely no chance of seeing him) and on a motorway bridge (less of an excuse, but when they're not pointing anything at you or wearing bright yellow or have the car on the bridge, then they're not that easy to spot).

 

If they can see you, you should be able to see them. If you can't see them then you can't see the kids playing football beside them. Oops - another dead kid and 3 points. I speed - a lot - but do I try to avoid doing it where I can't always see who I am likely to kill. If I am going for a blat in a car or bike, I will use roads where I have full visibility around me. If I need to get from A to B then I will leave early enough to get there obeying the speed limit if the need arises.

 

Must get down to the opticians on Saturday then..."Can I have some of those glasses that fast bloke has got that will let me see straight through a tree (and thereby showing the plod that is completely behind it)"

 

Daz,

Fair due's mate. Good debating with you...

Of couse, we've only had reply from a small fraction of the 7000 odd members here

Cheers!

 

Gatso 0

Plod with Hairdryer 2 (let off one of those though)

Laser hairdryer hidden in the back of unmarked escort estate with plod half a mile down the road 1

Be warned. Don't speed anywhere in Dorset (day or night) or in Farnborough, Hants.

[This message has been edited by Jerome (edited 27 July 2001).]

 

Like fast bloke:

Gatso - 0 Vascar - 0 Laser - 0 points -0

Bel 990 - 50+

Don't like Gatsos, especially hidden ones, the reason I no longer use the A9 south of Inverness, short of x-ray glasses I find it difficult to see through signs

 

I'm with Nimbus on this!
I try to drive defensively and look out for hazards, however the biggest threat at the moment is the Gatso and whether rightly or wrongly that is what I look for when driving. This garbage about cameras being in blackspots is just a joke. Having recently driven down to Aylesbury using motorways and A roads, apart from the odd instance of dangerous driving (which a camera never picks up, suprisingly) I was most in fear from the erratic driving of people suddenly seeing speed camera lines on the road and the emergency braking that ensued.
I advocate the abolition of all cameras except those in 30 mph zones and those in accident blackspots where they should be painted fluorescent orange and location publicised

 

Oh by the way DAZ...Yes you're off your head!!

 

To drive fast nowadays is becoming a lottery (one that us guys keep winning the prizes ) The introduction of the latest cameras and the methods used to disguise them, both fixed and mobile, is meaning the track days are well worth the money.
Clear, good visibility splay roads are the places where the police know people go fast - twisty roads will generally not have cameras, but there is no visibility so increase the danger.
If more people used track days, they could become cheaper still ?? ( )

 

Gatso 0, Laser 1, Vascar 1

Ps Vascar not as easy as you'd think to spot, this guy was 5 cars back as I started to accelerate down a hill, he stayed hidden until I'd passed well beyond the first timing mark - then hey presto lights came on and the 5 cars moved over Oh No Slam on Anchors ! (I'd lost enough speed to only get clocked at 97 Thank God)

Gary

[This message has been edited by Gary Foster (edited 26 July 2001).]