What do you think of speed cameras?

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Cooler · #1 Unread post by **Cooler** » Sat Nov 17, 2007 11:04 pm

Folks,

I have a knee jerk reaction to speed cameras. I always slow down sharply when I see one. This is a dangerous manouevre that I am working on.

How do you react to speed cameras and do you think they help road safety?

C.

Meanie · #2 Unread post by **Meanie** » Sun Nov 18, 2007 5:28 am

If you don't speed, you don't have a problem.

Cooler · #3 Unread post by **Cooler** » Sun Nov 18, 2007 6:47 am

Meanie wrote:If you don't speed, you don't have a problem.

Hi Meanie,

You make a good point. On clear roads I think this will be quite easy to achieve.

Another thought - Here in the UK there are six million motorists with speeding points on their licences. One problem is that the general stream of traffic tends to run quite a bit over the various limits, and motorists slow down sharply around camera sites and then speed up again. It's a dangerous business and accident rates around camera sites are quite high.

In a car one tends to go with the traffic flow, but I guess it could feel different on a bike. As a recent returner to two wheels, this is something that I will be getting used to. On narrow roads with high volume traffic it will be an interesting experience trying to keep out of the flow, but I'll give it a try.

e.

Bluebabe · #4 Unread post by **Bluebabe** » Tue Nov 20, 2007 12:13 pm

Wow, that's a new one for me...

We don't have the cameras up here so, no worries. But, it's a first to hear that something that was put in to help prevent accidents is now causing them, what next, huh?

Sorry to "hijack" the thread....

Bluebabe · #5 Unread post by **Bluebabe** » Tue Nov 20, 2007 12:13 pm

Wow, that's a new one for me...

We don't have the cameras up here so, no worries. But, it's a first to hear that something that was put in to help prevent accidents is now causing them, what next, huh?

Sorry to "hijack" the thread....

Cooler · #6 Unread post by **Cooler** » Tue Nov 20, 2007 11:07 pm

Bluebabe wrote:Wow, that's a new one for me...

We don't have the cameras up here so, no worries. But, it's a first to hear that something that was put in to help prevent accidents is now causing them, what next, huh?

Sorry to "hijack" the thread....

Bluebabe,

It's a psychological thing. The cameras are very unpopular here, and drivers try to work around them any way they can. Near to my home a camera was recently destroyed by a driver who just rammed into it in his car. The guy was caught, but he didn't seem to care, just lost it I guess.

Another thing that happens is that drivers spend their time with their eyes fixed on the speedo, or on their GPS camera detector, and this has affected road safety. I have a GPS in my own car, and I do find that I keep an eye on it while driving in built up areas. The GPS gives an exact speedo readout, more accurate than the car speedo.

Our roads are very busy. I'm sticking to the country lanes on my bike.

e.

Bluebabe · #7 Unread post by **Bluebabe** » Wed Nov 21, 2007 5:19 am

Huh. Well, I guess I surely won't complain about OUR roads next time. Our city is not very big (110,000) and all of the roads around it could be considered country lanes.

It does sound like that one guy just had it, huh? Well, take care and it sounds like you are making a wise decision to stick with those roads.....

jstark47 · #8 Unread post by **jstark47** » Fri Nov 23, 2007 4:03 am

Cooler wrote:The cameras are very unpopular here, and drivers try to work around them any way they can. Near to my home a camera was recently destroyed by a driver who just rammed into it in his car. The guy was caught, but he didn't seem to care, just lost it I guess.

Somewhere on the 'net (maybe on triumphrat.net) I saw pics of some of the inventive ways you Brits have done in those cameras.

IMO, speed cameras are clearly not a safety measure, just another way for government to extort funds from the citizenry. It's time for the pols to get honest about their true motives.

Cooler · #9 Unread post by **Cooler** » Fri Nov 23, 2007 4:11 am

jstark47 wrote:
Cooler wrote:The cameras are very unpopular here, and drivers try to work around them any way they can. Near to my home a camera was recently destroyed by a driver who just rammed into it in his car. The guy was caught, but he didn't seem to care, just lost it I guess.
Somewhere on the 'net (maybe on triumphrat.net) I saw pics of some of the inventive ways you Brits have done in those cameras.

IMO, speed cameras are clearly not a safety measure, just another way for government to extort funds from the citizenry. It's time for the pols to get honest about their true motives.

Stark,

Good post. I just read an article in Motorcycle News, by Kevin Ash, where he finds a government report showing a 55% increase in personal injury accidents around UK motorway speed camera sites. Needless to say the report (transport research laboratory) wasn't easy to find.

C.

Jadien · #10 Unread post by **Jadien** » Mon Nov 26, 2007 6:18 pm

Personally, I like the idea of them........ when I'm cagin' it. Otherwise, I'm spending too much time looking at the speedo and not the road.

As a side note, I remember some kids doing an experiment that involved driving in each lane of a highway going the speed limit. I'll try to find the vid on youtube, it's hilarious.