I am anti - camera as with most people here, see it as a revenue earner etc etc
However, driving though a Welsh village last week I came across one of these speed camera vans parked up with the back window open and the radar hanging out. The speed limits for the village were there for all to see, the van had all the fluorescent markings reqd so I really wonder about anyone who was caught - exactly how much attention are they paying?
Same on M8 today - standard issue of roadworks, all the signs up warning of speed reductions from 800 yds away, camera signs, cameras at side of road with fluorescent markings and still they were flashing away!
Now, by the simple nature of us all being on this forum we are probably more interested and more aware of motoring matters than the average motorist, but in this day and age if someone is caught on camera going thru roadworks, well, to be brutal, I think they deserve it. Forget the argument about why they are there, are they needed, are they revenue raisers etc, we all know there is a good chance that they are there so why not just stick to the speedlimit for that stretch? If someone misses all the signs indicating speed limits etc, what else are they missing? You carrying out your manoeuvre in front of them?
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...if someone is caught on camera going thru roadworks, well, to be brutal, I think they deserve it.
Perhaps you're right, but this is one area where you see the very alarming herd mentality of motorways. It's so easy to think no-one else is slowing down so I won't either. You rationalise this by assuming that the other drivers have local knowledge and aren't worried about the cameras or perhaps know better than you that the speed restriction isn't necessary. I'm sure a social pyschologist would have a name and a better explanation for this sort of behaviour.
I've passed through a lot of roadworks recently because I've covered more miles than I normally do. No-one was keeping to the limit in any of them, although there was a marked difference between those that had cameras and those that didn't. By attempting to keep to the temporary speed limit myself I caused tailbacks and some very dangerous looking overtaking manoeuvres on the part of those who unwilling to slow down for the odd mile.
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I hear what you are saying and I have also experienced it as well , but at the end of the day if you are caught then you get the points not them!
Always remember that the day before the cameras were put up, they weren't there!!
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I wouldn't object to the cameras on the M25 (which I negotiate several times a week) if I could see some of these contractors that the blessed things are supposed to be protecting. In the 4 miles of roadworks I rarely count more than 5 working contractors (including those in cranes) yet there is a village of caravans and portacabins between Jn 13 and 12 counterclockwise.
Certainly at 00:30 there is no movement from the contractors and few other cars in sight, yet the limit and the cameras persist. Ok, so dropping to 40 may only add 3 or 4 minutes to my journey at that time of night, but they're my 3 or 4 minutes, damn it!
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Oh dear No Dosh - another smack on the wrist for you (don't get noughty now""""")
Road Works are planned, costed and contracted out to a fairly tight budget and time scale.
Coning and signing can take up to half a day to setup/take down requiring ateam of Traffic Management Operatives who don't work for nothing.
The Traffic Order for the works, speed, prohibited vehicles, traffic flow directions are 24/7 for the duration of the works.
Cones etc are left in situ (except where possible for Bank Holidays) to cut down on thre time scale planned for the works. Your 3 minute delay may well be saving you an extra week of problems.
DVD
PS. Your doing a great job x x x x
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Coning and signing can take up to half a day to setup/take down
Ooooh not in this case. Proper steel and concrete barriers, set up for the duration it would seem.
The Traffic Order for the works, speed, prohibited vehicles, traffic flow directions are 24/7 for the duration of the works.
All too aware of that. It's the "Why oh why oh why" of it that gets me.
Cones etc are left in situ (except where possible for Bank Holidays) to cut down on thre time scale planned for the works. Your 3 minute delay may well be saving you an extra week of problems.
Still seems plain daft to have three lanes available, no traffic in sight, no contractors within 500yards and still have to do 40. Still, nobody said it was fair.
PS. Your doing a great job x x x x
Aren't I though? Nice of you to say so!
::: Mental note to self: DVD is after something.... :::
No Dosh
mailto:Alan_moderator@honestjohn.co.uk
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Bad enough to be the only driver doing (anything close to) the speed limit in a 40 zone on a motorway.
There's one thing that is much worse, and that is the Rotherhithe tunnel (under the Thames). This has a 20mph speed limit, and cameras at both entrances. Beyond this, it is a race track, where cars happily do up to 60mph when the road is quiet.
Woebetide the driver who is doing a legal 20mph. You are guaranteed a queue of cars behind you. That's bad enough, but then they'll start hooting away, and quite soon there'll be more noise than the Queen Mary leaving port.
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"Still seems plain daft to have three lanes available, no traffic in sight, no contractors within 500yards and still have to do 40. Still, nobody said it was fair."
Bet you wouldn't complain if in the dead of night you encounter a metal sign blown edge on in the middle of the carriageway. Not unknown either.
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Bet you wouldn't complain if in the dead of night you encounter a metal sign blown edge on in the middle of the carriageway. Not unknown either.
A fair point, and a snag that I experienced on that section of the M25 last time they widened it. Told plod but they seemed to have better things to do.
Equally, though, it could be a broken down/crashed motorbike, a fallen light, a piece of HGV tyre, a tarpaulin flapping in the wind,.... none of which are highlighted with 40mph signs and Gatsos.
Agree entirely that if someone can't see the limit signs in those roadworks then they should not have a licence. However, its not a pleasant experience trying to stick to them, given that no-one else ever wants to.
What confuses me is that roadworks used to prompt a 50 limit, now it's often a 40. Were the contractors made of carbon fibre and fitted with crumple zones in the old days? If so, why are they made of softer stuff these days?
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thanks for the support patently.
mind you on the other hand a motorway camera which has had the old FiF bottle going a time or two on dark nights.
There you are, having faithfully stuck to the limit through the roadworks, booting it nicely just after the roadworks end sign only to get a flash flash from a camera monitoring traffic on a bridge crossing over the motorway. Just for that second you think "Oh .........."
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How about the cameras monitoring the variable speed limits on the M25? VERY important to keep your eyes away from the other side - I looked across once just as someone set them off. Flash flash, right in my eyes.
A major contribution to road safety .... as I reminded myself when my vision came back a few hundred yards later....
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Try that at night on a motorbike in rain.
Vision goes completely.
I wonder what plod's reaction would be if I stood at the side of the road taking flashlight photos at night?
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Ref the roadworks on the M25, and the RAC saying "the limit needs better signs"? Sorry? are they mad? There is no way of missing these signs. Anyone who gets nicked here because they cant see the signs should have the points trippled and BANNED.
I dont want to be anywhere on the same road with someone who's eyesight or awareness is that bad.
Anway its fun on those roadworks, when driving round thro there late at night I set the MPG display to see how high it gets. 89.7 mpg at 40mph in 5th over three miles.
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