The Truth About Speed Cameras (BBC South West documentary)

Pete4779

There have been many arguments on baords.ie regarding speeding, points and cameras.

Here are two links to a BBC South West documentary (each is around 10 minutes long).

It shows how the speed guns regularly lead to false readings due to inaccurate use, including getting positive speed readings from stationary vehicles, and slight hand tremors leading to much higher readings.

Please watch it, and don't believe anything regarding cameras and speeding unless you can be assured that the police/garda/operator used the device exactly as the manufacturer intended - if not, then the camera reading may be invalid.

The Truth About Speed Cameras (Part 1): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=noTllmqWjOU

The Truth About Speed Cameras (Part 2): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wTBXROqE9l8

If there are reponses, maybe they could be kept on topic about speed cameras and why they should/shouldn't be used - my opinion as the new evidence emerges is that there is no role for them other then for revenue generation and they have been shown to be inaccurate and unreliable.

Eoin087

Hmmm, that gives you something to ponder....

Anyone notice the car attempting to overtake the bike on the bend towards the end of part 2?

run_Forrest_run

very interesting alright, thanks for posting.

I am only dreading when they issue contracts to private operators for speed traps in this country...expect madness because this country cannot manage technology in a sensible & manner.

wil

Interesting but not particularly new evidence. SafespeedUK website has been lobbying against indiscrimate use of cameras for years for this and other reasons.
A friend in the UK police told me they were predominantly used for revenue. Photos of foreign reg cars caught on camera were usually dumped because it would cost too much to trace them. But that is not info they will openly share. In one place, people got used to the camera, slowed passing it, the camera failed to generate income so they had to move it. People slow down then speed up and this varying speed has an inherent danger in itself.
Steven Ladyman (who has 8 speeding points on his licence), the minister of state for transport AFAIR, responsible for speed cameras in the UK in interview with Jeremy Clarkson (who has no points on his licence) on TopGear could not convince Jeremy, audience or I that they had any significant effect on safety. In fact Jeremy indicated otherwise as road statistics have remained almost the same since they were introduced, prior to introduction there had been a steady decline in road deaths in the UK. (Ladyman posted a faster time than Clarkson on the TG test track:cool: .)
Part of the problem is they generate revenue and on the surface seem to pay lip service to safety, so they will be justified whatever the actual results.
In actual fact they play little part in truly improving on the things that do matter.
A static camera can never play the part of an active intelligent discriminating police force for enforcement.
Speed limits are arbitrary numbers, figures set often by county councils with no idea of road safety, but a big interest in having land zoned for development, much easier in a 50k zone than a 100k one.
If there is a genuine reason for one, in an accident black spot say, where all other solutions have been tried, OK but that will not be the case. The slightest reason in a good revenue spot will be enough.

It will be a nightmare when they get introduced here, it will be the clampers with guns.:D :eek: :mad:
If you thought a big yellow boot on your wheel was an annoyance, then try on a big red ban for size. And as the money rolls in all calls for fairness will be ignored.
In the UK, a mature driving nation with one of the best records in the world, cameras came in as a last measure when all other avenues had been explored. Aside from taking control away from the driver or fitting cotton wool all round there was little else to do to improve statistics.
Here we havent reached that position and there are many avenues yet to be dealt with before the cop out of introducing cameras. But hey that wouldnt mean anything to you if driving after a feed of Bass, being chauffeured around or not having a licence doesnt bother you.

Pete4779

Do we have an organisation in Ireland like the UK one that lobbys against them?

It would be easier to collect and use evidence against them prior to them being deployed.

Does anyone have any further links or reports on driving "speed" cameras?

I would greatly like to join such a lobby group

farva

Pete4779 wrote:

I would greatly like to join such a lobby group

As would I, completely agree with everything said above!

As far as I know irishspeedtraps.com is the closest thing that we have.

Del2005

Pete4779 wrote:

Do we have an organisation in Ireland like the UK one that lobbys against them?

It would be easier to collect and use evidence against them prior to them being deployed.

Does anyone have any further links or reports on driving "speed" cameras?

I would greatly like to join such a lobby group

And the one in the UK is doing such a good job at getting rid of them. As said before they are an easy revenue stream. I've read articles from the UK about cameras being placed on roads near where crashes have happened, but not on the road as there wouldn't be enough revenue there.

wil

Yes as Del says, lobby group may seem like nice idea but probably not effective when those making the decisions are being chauffeured around in Mercs and in need of petrol expenses.:rolleyes:
Interesting to see the inappropriate speed limit example on that Irish site http://www.irishspeedtraps.com/SpeedLimits.aspx
3 lane N4 in both directions and half lane mountain road, both 80kph.
Guess where theres already a nice little earner. Cheese

~~SKYHIGH~~

Even if the operator of the device did make a deliberate movement of it to make your speed look faster, it would be hard to prove he did that....

Capt'n Midnight

wil wrote:

In the UK, a mature driving nation with one of the best records in the world, cameras came in as a last measure when all other avenues had been explored. Aside from taking control away from the driver or fitting cotton wool all round there was little else to do to improve statistics.

It's not a last measure, they are working on having compulsary GPS tracking in all cars for road charging and other things.

As for hazard , the one on the M50 at the start of the road works , you need to remember to leave a good gap there, people like tapping the brakes at it.

MrPudding

Have a look at http://www.safespeed.org.uk/ especially the forums.

They are / were compliing figures to compare accident statistics in areas with "Safety Camera Partnerships" to see what effects the cameras were having on safety. Interesting reading.

MrP

TommyT

Magistrates were stunned when a scientist charged with speeding at 42mph told them: “No I wasn’t . . . I was only doing 29.177196mph.”

Dr Phillip Tann’s lawyer then produced data from a revolutionary device he was testing – showing the exact time, location and speed of his car.

Instead of being 12mph over the limit when his Mercedes was zapped by a mobile speed camera, he was actually less than 0.8mph UNDER. The case has now been dropped.

Dr Tann plans to talk to police chiefs about how his invention – built into a mobile phone – could help stop speeders.

The boffin, 45, who runs his own technology firm, was stunned to get a letter accusing him of speeding in Sunderland because he had seen the police trap.

He checked data on the device and found cops were wrong. His lawyer gave the city’s JPs a CD of his recordings.

Dr Tann said that police cameras are not 100 per cent accurate but that his system is.

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?f=10&t=447741

NBar

Very interesting but not once have they indicated that any of the cars,trucks bike had their spedo's calibrated to prove that they are working and accurate as eveybody knows not all spedo's are correct and some can be out around 8kph

Del2005

Your speedo will always over read the speed you are doing. If the manufactures made them accurate they would leave themselves open to being sued. Easiest way to get an accurate speed is use GPS.

Doesn't really matter in this country anyway as all a Garda has to do is say you where speeding and you get done. Whereas in the UK they have to calibrate the hand held guns every day. But all the entails is standing a set distance from a wall, saw it on Bike Cops UK on Men and Motors.

NBar

Believe it or not its done here as well its called the accuracy check

pa990

gps isnt as accurate as ppl think. if you are going up or down hill.. it will undre estimate your speed.. because it cant take into account the gradient. It will always presume that you are travelling on a flat surface